Quest for a Holiday
by coffeetablewriter
Summary: Carolyn Mason couldn't wait for her much needed vacation, and Moscow, Russia just happened to be on her bucket list! Unfortunately, she gets caught in the middle of a nuclear war that Ethan & his team are trying to prevent from happening, all because our favorite Russian officer sees her as a potential asset to Ethan and his team. Brandt/OFC. [Set during GP]
1. Moscow

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything related belongs to its respective owners. I am not trying to make any money off of this!

 **A/n:** Hope you like it, after it's been edited to death! :)

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 1**

 _Ah, Moscow, Russia_. Carolyn thought, taking out her pamphlet from her white pea coat's pocket. The country was one of her many places to visit on her bucket list. And she was finally here! Upon her arrival, someone suggested she visited the Kremlin, as it was Moscow's finest buildings in history. She had no idea people could visit such a place like it, but here she was surrounded by people, site seeing like her. The more intake of fresh cool air she took in her system, the more normal she began to feel. This is exactly what the doctor ordered, a vacation, a time for a little r &r. Some people liked beaches, Carolyn Mason loved culture.

She started walking down the cobblestone courtyard, and read her pamphlet at the same time.

 _It was a Russian Embassy built in the-_

But she was rudely cut off by a sudden rumble underneath the ground. She'd gasped in shock, as she tried to balance herself out on the heels of her boots to keep from falling.

Scared eyes, she turned around and looked for the culprit of the sudden quake. Since when did Moscow have Earthquakes?

There was another pop sound in her ears.

 _Pop!_ Followed by another quake, making her gasp sharply. She gripped tightly onto the pamphlet as if it were the only thing keeping her from falling.

She didn't know what to do, but she was about to break into a run until she heard shouting behind her that made her loose focus and spin around behind her.

"Go! Run! Move!" A man wearing glasses, and dressed in a peculiar blue jacket was running toward her. Too stunned to move fast enough, he ran smack dab into her, and covered her with his body, until they both flailed in the air. Dust and rock particles flew into her mouth because she couldn't stop screaming.

~*MI*~

First darkness…then light. Then voices.

Eyes open. Ethan Hunt looked around his surroundings. He was in a foreign hospital. _Great_. He thought dryly. He tried to move his arm, but his wrist was attached to handcuffs. _Double great_.

" _Owe_ …" someone complained next to him. Ethan's eyes slantered slightly to the left.

"Where am I?" The female voice asked.

He looked at her directly as she tried to gather her surroundings. She had thick and wavy brown hair curled around her shoulders, sticking up everywhere. The woman's bottom lip was torn, as he spotted the dried blood. Sprinkled cuts covered just above her eyebrows. She wore a couple of bracelets on her wrist and a black hair tie. She looked like a normal civilian. He didn't see anything threatening about her. Cuts and bruises dotted along her arms. She was dressed in a hospital gown. Street clothes discarded.

She looked like she was having a hard time adjusting to the awful lighting in the room. She would blink every now and then. She'd rubbed her eyes, trying to focus at her surroundings.

She was about to get up, but then suddenly she found herself stuck. She tried and tried to get out, but she was stuck in handcuffs. "Owe, _son of_ a…" she hissed at the biting pain her handcuffs held.

 _Well_ , Ethan thought, smiling slightly. She was _definitely_ American.

Panic swelled her heart, and gripped her soul. Her breathing increased out of fear as she tried to move again, shaking her shackled wrist.

"Relax, relax," the man next to her said calmly.

She looked at the man next to her. He had short brown hair, slightly wavy. Her eyes couldn't help but notice his bare chest covered in purple and red bruises. How bad was this?

"What's going on?" she asked, still trying to get out of her handcuffs.

Worried eyes met his.

She was afraid. Ethan thought. He didn't blame her either.

"Why am I handcuffed?" she heard the small voice coming out of her dry mouth.

He looked at her wrist attached to the handcuff and the bed railing. _That was a good question_. He picked up his wrist and showed it to her.

"I think," Ethan said. "We're in trouble. Just…hang tight; I'll get us out of this."

Carolyn gulped. "Who are you like some kind of super-spy or something?"

Ethan grimaced. "Something like that."

Carolyn nodded, "Right. Of _course_ you are," she chuckled nervously. This was _just_ great.

She plopped back onto the pillow of her bed, and winced. Everything ached, everything hurt, and she just wanted it to stop. She glanced around her, and noticed everyone was rather busy.

She was just lying here with her "American Super-Spy".

The news anchor blabbing in his foreign language on the television screen caught her ears, and she turned to the television set.

Smoke filled everywhere covering around The Kremlin. A frown made its way on her face. It'd just blown up? Just like that? And she was there. She was there right on that pathway.

She craned her neck to see if there was close-captioning, but there wasn't. She frowned. At least the head-lines were in English. Something about a gas-leak? But she couldn't see, there were too many nurses and doctors standing in the way. She could only see bits and pieces.

"What are they saying?" she asked.

" _Officials are blaming, a gas main explosion underneath the Kremlin, that set off a chain reaction_ ," The newscaster said. She saw the closed captioning on the television. " _It's not yet clear what section of the Kremlin was affected, but sources at the site say there is a massive crater in the northern corner of the grounds_."

"They don't know what happened," Ethan said, after a moment of taking it all in. Ethan closed his eyes, listening to the television newscaster and the voices around the hospital.

Carolyn wished she could understand Russian at that point. Many people were still there, wiping blood spots on their faces, looking dreary, and tired, much like how she felt now.

Trying to get out of her shackled space, probably just made her back hurt even worse. She winced, as she shifted on her cot, and looked over at the gentleman who probably saved her life, and preventing her from dying.

"Thank you," she said.

"For?" he asked.

"Saving my life?" she said.

"I didn't," he answered truthfully.

She frowned, and leaned back again.

The Russian voice on television continued, and she just listened to foreign language.

" _Officials have assured the public that the gas is in no way toxic,"_ The news anchor continued.

A man came in between them. He looked at her and she tensed, watching him, as he placed his hands along both of their railings. "Our media's no more truthful than yours," He said in English.

Carolyn was thankful for the English spoken voice with a hint of Russian on the side, but she was not liking his tone. She suddenly got a bad feeling about the current situation she was in.

Ethan turned to stare at him.

"American," he said. "But the three of us know," he circled Ethan and then he circled Carolyn. Ethan kept his eyes fixated on him. "The real cause of the explosion!" he held up a jacket that seemed to belong to the man next to her. "Was you!" he flipped the jacket over in which it had a Russian soldier-like pattern.

Carolyn frowned. "Look, I'm sure this is just a misunder-"

He held up his hand to silence her. "I'll get to you in a second, _missy_."

He shoved Ethan's jacket on the floor.

"She's _not_ apart of this," Ethan said.

"She was at the scene of the crime," the Russian said. "We have her DNA on your jacket. _That_ makes her an asset, a person of interest."

She gulped and watched him lower his body over his, holding an old phone to his ear. "I'll wait till your go sign team leader," the voice said on the voicemail. "Standing by to detonate."

"The worst part for you, _team leader_ , " he sneered. "Is that I've been assigned to make you and your partner suffer for it for what you did to my country," he pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

A nurse with short hair swung by, taking it out. " _This is a hospital, not a night club,"_ she said, and shoved Ethan's jacket back at him in a hotly manner.

She spoke again, and the surgeon in blue scrubs took her only means of escape out of here.

"No, wait!" Carolyn cried, watching her American "Super-Spy" get taken away from her. She turned her head back to look at the Russian police officer who was now staring at her with twinkling interest in his dark eyes. _A hunter's eyes_ , Carolyn thought fearfully.

"Now, you're going to tell me how you became apart of his team," the Russian officer said.

"I'm _not_ apart of that man's team!" she stressed loudly. "I don't even know what you're talking about! I'm just here on vacation! Passport…" she said in a rush of a thought. Where was her passport?! Better yet, where were her things!?

" _She needs her rest. Too much stress isn't good for the body,"_ The same nurse who ordered her American "Super-Spy" away, was now pushing her in a new empty room. The nurse's eyes darted to the police officer. " _She was lucky to be alive, let's keep it that way."_

Carolyn sighed, defeated. How in the freaking world was she going to get out of this one?

 **~*S*~**


	2. Escape

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything related belongs to its respective owners. I'm not making any money off of this.

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 2**

She glanced at her hand cuffed to the bar and then looked out the window, memorizing daylight. She didn't know what was going to happen, she was scared...

A hand suddenly covered her mouth, startling her thoughts. She jumped and looked at him. It was _him_! Her American "super-spy"! But what was happening? She gave him a questionable look and he looked down the hallway where the Russian police officer was standing, and still talking to his partner. "I'm gunna need you to trust me," he said, using the paperclip in his hands to unshackle her wrist free.

"Who are you?" she asked, as he pulled her down from her bed.

"We don't have time," he said.

"I'm not going anywhere, not until you tell me who you are, and who you work for," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

Ethan grimaced. They _really, really_ didn't have time for this. He needed to be tight and firm with her. "Those two men right down there? They think we bombed the Kremlin, but we didn't. I don't know you, you don't know me. If you want to stay and get yourself tortured for questioning, be my guest. I don't want to," he explained in a heated rush. He noticed her not-so-good-state and didn't think she could handle much torture. "And I don't think you want that either."

She gulped. No she didn't. She quickly sped-walked by his side, and grabbed onto his arm.

Ethan winced slightly, so she just held onto him gently.

"Stay close," he said. "I'll get us out of this."

He took her to his room and to the open window.

"Can you at least tell me your name before we decide to jump out the window?" she asked, as he poked his head outside, glancing around.

"Only if you tell me yours," he said, looking at her, and the Russian officer at the same time.

"Carolyn Mason," she said.

"Ethan Hunt," Ethan said, climbing out the window. "Alright now you're going to have to follow me closely, and…follow my lead."

Carolyn felt the rush of air hit her face as she looked outside. She laughed nervously and shook her head. "You're in _sane_! No, no, I can't do this. Can't we just try to reason with them instead?" she asked.

"Eh," Ethan tilted his head to the side. "You would think. But these guys don't like to reason with us."

"Why?" she asked.

Ethan looked at her and then looked at the Russian officer, reading his lips. They didn't have time for Q&A. This man was out for blood.

He held out his hand for her.

She looked into the palm of his hand, and bit her lip. "Yeah, um, I-I'm not good with heights," she meekly admitted.

"I won't let you fall," he promised, glancing back and forth between her and the Russian officer. "Sometime today would be good!" he said, as the Russian officer started to head for his room.

She whirled her head around, panic engulfed her, and her heart started pumping against her chest. Putting her wavy hair into a messy bun, she quickly used her sudden adrenaline rush to climb out.

"Please don't fall, please don't fall," she pleaded to herself. She tried not to look down, but she couldn't help it. "Please don't-" She looked and felt like she was going to slip off the ledge, an automatic yelp left her lips, but Ethan caught her with his right arm as he dragged her to the side of the building's ledge. "Fall…thank you," she said.

"Uh-huh," he crocked out, trying to steady himself and Carolyn onto the ledge, gripping the wall with his vice-like grip.

Once she felt her feet touch cold stoned ledge, she found her way to Ethan, and wrapped her arms around his neck and torso, holding onto him for dear life.

"He's here," she gasped, once she'd settled against Ethan.

The Russian officer looked down at the trash-bin, and then looked at his targets, placing his cigarette back into his mouth.

Ethan looked down again at the trash bin and suddenly Carolyn felt ill to her stomach. "Please tell me we're _not_ …" she whispered, hanging onto him for dear life.

Ethan turned his head to look at the Russian officer, and she looked as well. The Russian officer challenged them to drop into the trash-bin at least twenty-five feet below them.

The Russian officer lit his cigarette, waiting to see what they would do. They didn't have very many options, his way or death by concrete. "Not a good idea," he said, smirking, as a puff of smoke covered his face.

"Seemed like one," Ethan said. "A minute ago."

The Russian officer waved his hand back toward him, and Carolyn just held onto Ethan tighter, closing her eyes shut, and burring her face within the crook of his neck. She didn't want to go anywhere near him.

"Okay," Ethan whispered in her ear. "Slightly move with me."

Fear may have held her heart, but when Carolyn looked into his golden brown eyes, for some reason at that moment, she could trust him. He wasn't letting go of her. They slowly started to move along the tight edge back toward the Russian officer. They moved painfully slow until the quiet rumble of a van turned on. Ethan then paused slightly in his trek, nearly causing Carolyn to loose grip on him. He pushed her up against him, so she was back firmly onto the ledge.

"I'm gunna let go for just a brief second," he whispered, staring into her eyes. She looked up at him and what he was looking at. There was a land-line connecting the two buildings over the street.

She took a deep breath, and nodded. "Jump when I tell you to jump," he instructed her.

He whipped his belt out of his belt-loop quickly and threw it on over the land-line. She wrapped her legs around his torso, and gasped in her scream, holding it inside, as they flew across the line. Her scream suddenly found its way to her lips until they got down the middle of the line, where they lowered to the van.

"Jump!" he said. They both jumped and landed onto the moving van. Carolyn nearly slipped off, but he reached for her hand. "Jump and roll!" he said. She reluctantly slipped out of his hand and felt herself fly down to the brick-street, rolling onto her back. Ethan followed suit.

The driver in the van yelled at them in Russian. Ethan and Carolyn looked at him in shock.

"Gun!" Ethan yelled, noticing the gun in the Russian officer's hand. He jumped in front of Carolyn and picked her up off the ground until she was able to run on her own.

A little ticked off, the Russian officer dodged back into the hospital shouting at his police men, "All agents! Hot targets heading west!"

Ethan and Carolyn sped-walked down the streets of Moscow. He grabbed a leather jacket off the ledge of clothes hanging out to dry, and he grabbed the nearest jacket for Carolyn to cover her hospital gown. He handed it to her, and she strung it on, not wanting to be seen walking around in a hospital gown. "My passport is back at the hospital," she said.

"We can't go back," Ethan said.

"What about my hotel?" she said. "Can't we just go there?"

"They'll be looking for us there too," Ethan said. "He's considered you an asset of mine, a partner-in-crime."

"Why can't we just call our own police?" she said, hugging herself, as she walked next to him on the sidewalk. "Don't we have immunity or something?"

"Unfortunately, no, not this time," he said, once she'd stopped to catch her breath.

Ethan stepped closer to her. "Look, I'm working on getting us out of this, alright? I'm sorry you got pulled into this."

She tightened her navy blue winter coat around her… _stolen_. Her eyes were burning, but she was trying to stay strong, strong enough to get out of this mess she was suddenly in.

"Okay," she said finally.

They started walking again. They needed to move. They were too out in the open and Ethan couldn't risk getting her, a normal civilian, caught, especially if she was a suspect.

He handed her a pair of shoes to keep warm on her feet. _Stolen shoes_. She'd never stolen anything in her life before. He handed her a fedora hat and sunglasses. She took them and placed them over her head begrudgingly.

Ethan continued walking and she continued to follow him at a face-pace. They came across a small café where he picked up a cell phone off the table.

" _It's all unaided assurance, how may I help you,"_

"Sect 1. Agent A-2, Delta-Echo," Ethan said. Carolyn listened curiously to him on the phone, and placed her hands in her pockets. She could also hear the police sirens in the background and she felt like a fugitive. "Requesting immediate evac. Alpha. 113."

" _Confirmed, Alpha 113_ ,"

And just like that he tossed the phone into an empty pothole on the side-walk.

Twilight hour was beginning to settle, and Carolyn felt her stomach twist in knots. Her feet hurt from walking, though the shoes did help somewhat. She would have to make due until she was in her own clothes, her own bed, and her own home. She was _not_ having a very good vacation so far.

"Hours," she bemoaned. "It's been hours, and I'm _freaking_ starving,"

"Grab a strudel on the way," Ethan said. "We can't stop. They're looking for us."

"But I didn't do anything!" she stressed, stopping at a sidewalk.

Ethan arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well, I don't think you did anything either, I'm just saying…" she said with a slight shrug.

There was a bright red neon sign just ahead, and a smoky bar. She could smell food that made her stomach gurgle.

She sighed desperately. "Look, Ethan, I'm tired. I'm cold. I'm dirty. I'm hurt. And, I just want to go somewhere and change into nicer clothes, maybe shower, and get this grime off of me?"

Ethan sighed, looking at her. She was totally ragged. She was definitely someone not used to the field like he was, and he immediately winced at that. "We can't. We need to get out of Moscow," he said, cringing. He wished he could take her, anywhere, and he wished she'd be safe somewhere in a nice hotel here in Moscow, but that would be the fastest way to catch them. It would be a lot easier to move around without a civilian by his side, but he had no choice but to bring her along. She was the Russian officer's target. In his mind, he thinks she helped him and Benji in the Kremlin, but she didn't.

"But you have a plan?" she asked. "I mean that's what you spies do? You come up with escape plans?"

Ethan shrugged. "More or less."

"So now what?" she asked, frowning.

"Now, we wait…" he said. "But, like I said, not in one place for too long. Otherwise…you'd be having a dinner date with the Russian police officer, and not a very nice one."

She let out an exaggerated sigh. This sucked. "Alright," she said. "Alright, I give, stick with you till the Calvary comes," she said, holding her hands up in defense.

Ethan suddenly stared at the newsfeed on the T.V. screen by the bar they were near.

"It all happened so fast," she mumbled sadly. "All those people...they didn't know it was coming... _I_ didn't know it was coming."

Ethan looked at her and put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "I promise, we'll get out of this."

She nodded, and together they started walking again.

"So, _what_ were you doing at the Kremlin?" he asked after a moment of silence had seeped between them.

Carolyn looked at him and then looked ahead of her, staring at the different shops and places along the roads of the streets in Moscow.

"Site-seeing," she said, smiling lightly to herself. "Do I dare ask what _you_ were doing there, Agent Hunt?"

Ethan chuckled dryly, "Probably not."

 **~*S*~**


	3. The Calvary

Enjoy! This was a fun chapter to write! :)

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything related belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC, that's all. I am not writing to make any money off of this.

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 3**

Dark skies turned to night as Ethan and Carolyn trudged the streets of Moscow. They'd dodged the police a couple times, hiding in the corners of back alley ways.

She turned her head behind her as the cops passed them, blue and red lights flashed behind her.

Another sigh of relief left her.

Carolyn didn't know how much more of this incognito stuff she could take, but she had to stay strong, and keep moving toward that light at the end of the tunnel, the light that promised a way back home. She'd had enough fun for one day.

She was tired too. Her tiredness was threatening to take over her with every step she took on the brick-stone street beneath her sole-less shoes.

Ethan made a sharp turn right and she stumbled to keep up with his fast-pace of walking. He looked back behind her as she steadied herself back up on the sidewalk, balancing her arms out like she was on a trapeze.

Their eyes met again, and she sucked in her lower lip, slightly afraid of his determined look. He wasn't menacing or anything. She just didn't really know how to approach him. He seemed to have an air of…self-reliance? She wasn't sure how to describe him, but she _did_ feel safe with him, even if they were breaking every law in the rule book right now.

One thing was for sure, he promised her that he would get her out of this, and get her home. That kept her going.

A black SUV pulled backwards toward Ethan and Carolyn.

She slowed down her trek, unsure of what to do. He walked up to the SUV and slid the door open, poking his head inside. He waved her over, and she quickly followed him. "Miss Mason, the Calvary," he said. He let her go in the car first and she slid furthest to the driver's side, and let out a sigh of relief.

Ethan pulled off his hood. "Mr. Secretary," he said, sliding the door shut. "I wasn't aware you were in Russia."

"I'm not. Not since the bomb blew up the Kremlin," Mr. Secretary said, glancing every so often at the civilian in the car. "Yesterday, I flew in order to accept the friendship of Russia from the Prime Minister. Now, I'm heading back to Washington, to hand the President my resignation."

The car started driving down the rickety road. Startled, Carolyn let out a small gasp, and gripped onto her seat to keep from falling face first into the computer screen that blocked her, and the man sitting across from her.

"Ethan, who is that?" Mr. Secretary asked, pointing to the woman who was now taking off her incognito had and sunglasses.

"Civilian," Ethan said.

Mr. Secretary couldn't help, but notice the bruises cuts dotted along her face. His eyes traveled along her neck, and face, noticing the cuts above her brows, and her torn lip, drying up pretty good.

Ethan noticed the Secretary's scrutiny. "She's harmless. She was just caught in the wrong place, wrong time. But she needs to get out of Moscow _now_ , and be put under our protection. The Russian police are framing her," he said.

"How?" Mr. Secretary asked.

Ethan looked at her and she looked down.

"Her DNA was on my jacket," Ethan said. "Carolyn, this is Mr. Secretary. He's my boss."

Carolyn's eyes darted toward Mr. Secretary.

"Nice to meet you," Mr. Secretary said sympathetically. "I apologize for the dyer circumstances you've been under, but we'll take you home as soon as we can, so just sit back, and relax."

She looked over at Mr. Secretary's second hand man, sitting in front of her. She was suddenly aware of his ocean-blue eyes, staring at her with sympathy...or pity, she couldn't tell. But she suddenly felt a little self-conscious, so she tightened her winter coat around her small frame, and scooted closer to the window. The man across from her frowned, and looked away.

"My Chief Analyst, William Brandt," Mr. Secretary said.

Brandt offered his hand to shake, but Ethan had something else on his mind. He wiped his hand on his jacket. "Pen?" Ethan asked.

"Pardon me?" Brandt asked.

"A pen?" Ethan said louder.

Brandt furrowed his eyes at Ethan before he retracted his hand, slipping it back to his jacket pocket in search for a pen. Brandt took out a pen and handed it to Ethan.

Ethan started scribbling on the palm of his hand, drawing a blue face and scribbled hair.

"Ethan. What happened in the Kremlin?" Mr. Secretary asked.

"Chief Analyst, you say?" Ethan asked, glancing up at Brandt.

"If you're implying that I made a bad call…" Brandt looked down.

"European male, fifties, about six foot one and one hundred and eighty pounds," Ethan showed the picture of his hand to Brandt. "Blue eyes, who is he?"

Mr. Secretary looked at the picture on Ethan's hand and turned to his Chief Analyst for an answer.

Brandt inspected the picture and shifted in his seat. "Crude drawing, but by your description, that could be Kurt Hendricks: one hundred and ninety IQ, served in Sweedish special forces, Professor of Physics, Stockholm Universities, specialist in nuclear endgame theory, asked to resign," he glanced in Mr. Secretary's direction and then at Carolyn slightly before he turned to Ethan. "Well because he's crazy."

Carolyn tried to block out the information spewing from this man's mouth. She closed her eyes tightly, but she couldn't block out his voice. She gave him a small glare, and Brandt glanced over at her.

He looked the other way, toward Ethan and the Secretary. Now he felt uncomfortable. He wasn't used to having a civilian near him during something like this, since after all, most of this was supposed to be _classified_.

"Cobalt," Ethan said in mid-thought. "You have to alert the Kremlin that one of his strategists has a nuclear device, and once of his operatives has the codes to activate it."

"And what makes you say that?" Brandt asked, turning his attention to Ethan.

Ethan glared at the Chief Analyst. "I saw him, leaving the executive armory, bag in hand. He set off that explosion and covered his tracks. It could be weeks before the Russians know its missing, unless we tell them."

"They won't listen to us," Mr. Secretary said. "As far as the Russians are concerned, we just bombed the Kremlin."

"It's not fair," Carolyn mumbled.

Brandt looked over at her sadly. She shifted in her seat, and hugged herself, pressing her face against the window. He could only imagine what she must be going through right now, and he was sorry she got pulled into this.

"The _tension_ between the United States and Russia hasn't been this high since the Cuban Missile Crisis. And the blame right or wrong leads to IMF," Mr. Secretary explained firmly.

Brandt tore his eyes away from the civilian, and focused on the current crisis at hand.

"The President has initiated Ghost Protocol. The entire IMF has been disavowed," Mr. Secretary said.

Carolyn's eyes slowly looked up at the Secretary, and suddenly felt pale. She may not know spy-lingo, but that didn't sound good. What did he mean by that?

"So what happens now?" Ethan asked.

"Now, I've been ordered to take you back to Washington, where the DOD will label you as a Rogue Extremist, and hang the Kremlin bombing on you and your team," Mr. Secretary explained. "Miss Mason will just be an innocent bystander, and all charges will be dropped."

Carolyn let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"Unless…" Mr. Secretary said slowly. Ethan looked at him. "You were to escape, somewhere between here and the airport, having uh, assaulted Brandt and me, leaving Miss Mason to call for help."

Carolyn's lips dropped open. What?

"Sir?" Brandt asked.

"You will then illegally scrounge whatever material you could from a backup supply cache that I've overlooked," he demonstrated with his hands as if he was smoothing out the air. "The same cache where your team is waiting for further orders."

Carolyn looked scared. She straightened herself up in hear seat, now alert at her new situation. She looked at Will fearfully. "I _am_ going to Washington…right?" she asked him. He looked at her facial expression, and winced.

He turned to his boss. "Sir, you may want to-" Brandt began to speak, but Mr. Secretary held his hand to stop him.

Brandt closed his mouth shut. Carolyn frowned.

"You will then disappear," Mr. Secretary continued. "And this conversation, having never taken place that your intentions will be unclear. But if any one of your team is caught or killed, they will be branded terrorists, out to insight global nuclear war."

Mr. Secretary pulled out a small brief case, and picked out a small USB port. He handed it to Ethan. "Your mission should you choose to accept it."

Ethan reached for the USB port and curled it in his hand, leaning back in his seat. Brandt handed Carolyn his cell phone.

Carolyn stared at his cell phone with wide eyes. "I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.

"It'll be alright," he said gently. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Guess I don't have much of a choice anyway," she said in a low voice, reaching for his cell phone. She leaned back in her seat, holding the cell phone in her hands, waiting for further instructions.

"Ethan you were my best man, and I'm sorry it's come to this, after all the sacrifices you've made," Mr. Secretary said. "We don't meet again; I just want you to know I've always considered you a friend."

Suddenly something that sounded like an explosion hit the car, causing the car to loose itself out of control. Glass shattered everywhere.

Everyone ducked down onto the floor. Brandt was about to reach for the Secretary until a panicked Carolyn reached for Brandt, pulling him out of the way before the speeding bullet sliced through the Secretary's forehead. Blood splattered everywhere.

He looked over his shoulder at her in shock. She was just as shocked as he was.

The driver tried to fix the situation and get them out of the hail of bullets.

"Stay down!" Ethan yelled the driver. "Drive, drive, drive!"

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

More bullets ricocheted in the car and hit through the computer screen until one finally reached the driver.

Ethan looked up and his eyes widened in shock, and looked at everything around him that was spinning in circles. He looked at Carolyn who was being protected by Brandt. He couldn't stop this from spinning out of control.

Suddenly the SUV swerved over its wheels, another set of bullets hailed over them, causing the car to finally tip over the bridge and drop into the river. All three of them tumbled into a tight space as the water rushed inside the car faster than Carolyn could say help.

 **~*S*~**


	4. Underwater

**A/N:** New chapter before we all start school! :) Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything related belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC.

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 4**

Water surrounded Carolyn like a tidal wave as she tried to swim up for air. It was no use due to the current being so strong that it just pushed her back downward, along with the fallen vehicle. She opened her eyes in the water, but the salt water stung. It took seconds before she could adjust them and see what was really going on around her.

The water had nearly filled to the brim of the ceiling of the SUV, allowing Carolyn to poke her head out of water, and gasp for air. She moved her arms around in the water to keep herself from drowning. Brandt came up next, coughing, followed by Ethan, also coughing out salt water.

"You okay?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah," Brandt coughed.

"No," Carolyn coughed out water at the same time. She cleared her throat, and held onto the ceiling like Brandt was doing. Holding the ceiling kept her steady in the water. _Smart_ , she thought. _But now what_? She glanced around her tight surroundings, and noticed the water level was rising higher.

"Stay with me," Ethan said. "Ready?" he glanced at Carolyn and Brandt.

"Yeah," they nodded.

Ethan dove under the water first, followed by Carolyn, and then Brandt. They attempted to swim out of the open window until all of a sudden bullets zoomed in every direction as they tried to swim against them.

Brandt quickly pulled Carolyn backwards. She reached out for Ethan, so he didn't get hit by a bullet, and ducked in the SUV, swimming back up in their hiding spot, coming up for air.

"What do we do?" Brandt asked.

"There's too many of them," Carolyn said breathlessly.

Ethan reached for the flare, floating in the water. He grabbed it. "Wait here," he said and dove under once again.

"Where else are we going to go?" Brandt asked.

Carolyn shrugged, and kept her hands onto the ceiling, trying not to panic at the rising water up to her chin.

She suddenly found herself loosing her grip on the ceiling, and slipped under water. She yelped in surprise, and Brandt quickly reached for Carolyn to keep her from going under.

"Oh, no you don't, stay with me," he whispered.

"I'm trying," she cried desperately, but she was loosing stamina because she was shivering too much. The water was so cold.

Brandt worked on trying to keep her afloat, while Ethan let the flare loose on one of the dead bodies into the water, giving the Russian police another distraction.

That distraction allowed Ethan to reach inside the SUV for Carolyn and Brandt enough time to escape from the hail of bullets beating down into the river.

Carolyn swam after Ethan and Brandt, following their escape, some place hidden enough away from the Russian police.

One Ethan found a place somewhere away from the Russian police, they swam up and gasped for air. They looked at each other with relief in their eyes.

 **~*MI*~**

" _Hold your fire! Weapons down!"_ The Russian Officer shouted at his men several times. Anger flared upon his rough features as he leaned over the railing, looking over the river. He saw the flare attached to a dead body. Scowling, he ran a hand over his face and glared at one of his men, " _What are you firing at, eh?"_

Minutes later, the police got a crane to lift the vehicle out of the river. No survivors have been reported. His targets escaped all because his men were stupid enough to keep showering bullets at random things that moved in the water. That wasn't exactly cutting it for his payroll, and not exactly cutting it for his country either.

His partner finally joined him with a folder of paper-work. The Russian officer opened it up revealing Ethan Hunt, and Bogdon, two men that had escaped prison earlier today.

" _And what of the girl?"_ The officer asked.

His partner shoved him the third folder in his hand.

" _She has a bit of a reputation back in the states it seems,"_ his partner chuckled. " _Quite the lady if I do say so myself. So, it's possible she's working with our friends after all."_

His partner handed the officer her purse and passport retrieved from the hospital.

The officer smirked like it was his birthday, and he was finally getting everything he'd always wanted.

 **~*MI*~**

Carolyn hugged herself for warmth as the cool Russian air seeped into her coat and hospital gown. She could see the color of her breath and frowned. It _was_ freaking cold outside _and_ she'd just been in the water, nearly drowning to death! She sniffled and brushed the strands of her hair out of her eyes, trying to keep up at the two gentlemen in front of her. She suddenly stumbled over her slippery shoes filled with water and cringed, "Stupid shoes," she mumbled under her breath.

Brandt looked behind him, and she quickly walked forward.

"How much longer?" Carolyn rasped, surprised to hear her voice at all.

"Should get there soon," Ethan said, shoving his hands within his pockets.

Carolyn frowned, and hugged herself to keep warm as she tried to keep up with their pace.

"Why would that work?" Brandt asked curiously.

"What would what work?" Ethan asked.

"The flare on the body," Brandt explained. "Why would that work?"

"It did work," Ethan said as Brandt walked in the other direction.

"Yeah, I know but-"

"Hey," Ethan said, motioning a quick nod over toward the analyst. Carolyn stood beside Ethan, waiting for Brandt to join them, still shivering.

"But why?" Brandt jogged over to them, and they started walking again in between the slow moving train cars. "I mean, how did you know that would draw their fire?"

"I didn't," Ethan shook his head. "I played a hunch."

Carolyn looked over at Ethan curiously, and then at Brandt before she hugged her arms.

"'Kay," Brandt said, hugging himself. "Alright, so what was your scenario? Right, you, there's a guy being shot at in the water, all of a sudden, he decides to light up a flare, and swim around? I mean what'd you assume they'd be thinking?"

They made a sharp right, rounding the red train cart and headed in a new direction.

"Thinking?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah," Brandt nodded.

"I didn't assume they were thinking," Ethan explained. "I assumed they were shooting at anything that moved. I just gave them a target. These guys aren't Rhode Scholars, you know," They stopped, and turned to face each other. Carolyn faced them as if they were standing in a triangle.

She looked around her, listening to the sounds of the train carts moving.

"It's really happening, isn't it?" Brandt asked.

Carolyn turned her attention to Brandt's question hanging in the air. She felt it too.

"Yeah," Ethan nodded.

"I'm not getting home am I?" she asked, barely a whisper.

"You'll just have to stay with us until we get a safe clearing to send you home," Ethan said, glancing at her softly. Carolyn nodded, sniffling. She rubbed her nose with her jacket's sleeve, and sighed in defeat. She was just going to have to be patient.

"Ethan," Brandt said in shock. "She's a _civilian_! She's not allowed to know these things. She'll compromise the mission!"

Ethan glared at Brandt; "I know!" he said, making Carolyn jump at the sound of his loud voice. "We can't just leave her on the streets," he explained in a softer tone. "They'll torture her for information."

Brandt widened his eyes at Ethan's words, and looked at Carolyn.

"I won't get in the way," Carolyn promised. "I'm not here to compromise anything."

"Why are you here?" Brandt asked.

She looked at him curiously. "Well, I _was_ here on vacation. A local recommended that I should visit the Kremlin. He said it was one of Russia's finest buildings in history."

Brandt raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "But Moscow? You took a vacation in Moscow?"

Carolyn winced at how that sounded. She looked over at Ethan, who was also seemingly interested in her. "I know it's not on everybody's bucket list to visit, but I _happen_ to like different cultures. I once considered Culture as a Major, but that doesn't really pay well…so I just figured one day I'd see the world."

Brandt was still eyeing her curiously as if he didn't believe her. "What do you do now?"

"Recently unemployed," she said, glancing the other way, and feeling embarrassed. _It sounded a lot better than suspension._

"Great," Brandt muttered under his breath.

Carolyn looked down at the bottom of her shoes and shifted slightly, hearing the water squish.

A train's horn sounded through their ears. Ethan looked up, and so did Carolyn, wondering where that was coming from.

"You know what that sound is?" Ethan asked.

"That's our ride out of here," Brandt said, offering to help Carolyn up and over the big box. She climbed over it and jumped down onto her own two feet, followed by Ethan and Brandt. "Alright, it's a green car! Number forty-seven!"

"What do you want me to do?" Carolyn asked.

"Help us find it!" Ethan said, running in search for the cart.

Carolyn looked at him crazily, but she stood in the middle between Ethan and Brandt as they both went in search for the car. She tried to see if she could find any cache car that might look the color green but all she kept seeing were faded red carts passing them. "I can't see anything!" she yelled.

"I see green!" Ethan said, pointing in the direction that just passed them. "Let's do it," he said, and the three of them ran after it.

"Go, go, go," Brandt said. "Forty-seven…"

They came up to another train of carts moving in the opposite direction. Ethan, Brandt, and Carolyn picked up their paces and ran as fast as they could to catch up with the train.

"Whoa, pole!" Brandt warned, holding his hands out so he didn't hit it. Ethan dodged it.

Carolyn gasped at the pole ahead of her, and hit her shoulder against it. She yelled in agonizing pain. "Goddamn it," she hissed.

Ethan and Brandt glanced over their shoulders, and she shook her head. "I'm okay!" she called after them.

"Barely," she muttered to herself, trying to keep up with Ethan and Brandt to the best of her abilities.

"This is it!" Brandt pointed at cart forty-seven. "Manifest!"

Ethan ran up to the cart, held onto the handle, and punched in his agent's number.

"Pole!" Brandt cried, barely dodging out of the way.

Carolyn opted to run around the pole, not wanting to get hit again.

Ethan thought they'd get in easily, but that wasn't the case. Brandt showed him that it was a retinal scanner, and grabbed onto the cart. Carolyn reached up to the cart.

"Retinal scanner!" Brandt demonstrated with his fingers, showing Ethan the eye scanner on the manifest. Ethan looked from Brandt to the manifest, and got closer to it.

The manifest revealed a green glow, and a female voice popped out. "Retinal scan required," the voice said.

"Watch out!" Brandt said as Ethan attempted to scan his eyes on the manifest computer, while dodging another pole. Ethan gripped onto the handle bars and jumped up onto the cart's ledge, pressing his eyes against the screen.

Carolyn finally found her way to the handle bar and grabbed onto it, trying to keep up with the moving train.

"Agent confirmed," the voice said.

"Come on," Brandt offered to help Carolyn as she pushed herself forward, giving her a little extra boost to catch up with him. The doors slid open, and she was pushed inside, followed by Ethan and Brandt.

Lights flickered on, illuminating inside the travel car.

As they laid there breathless, Brandt looked over at Carolyn. "So, was this the perfect vacation you envisioned?" he asked. Carolyn just sighed, and coughed due to the exhausting run, leaving that as her dry response.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Thank you to my current followers, favoriters, & reviewers! **


	5. Ghost Protocol

**A/n:** Such a lazy and rainy afternoon. Good thing I'm home to crank out another chapter! Thank you all for reading! It's very much appreciated!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything related belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC.

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 5**

"Ethan?" A British voice echoed in Carolyn's ears. "Geeze, I thought you were dead!"

Carolyn looked up anxiously at the big weapons pointed at her face, and crouched fearfully next to Ethan.

Ethan held his hand in the air to hold their fire.

"We are," Brandt replied, standing up.

"Figuratively speaking," Carolyn muttered, as Ethan helped Carolyn up off the floor.

"Who's this?" The Brit asked, gun pointed at Brandt's back.

The woman pointed her gun at Carolyn, who froze, not daring to move.

"Dunn and Carter, this is Carolyn, she's a civilian, and this is William Brandt, Chief Analyst," Ethan explained.

"Analyst?" Carter asked.

"Civilian?" Dunn eyed the woman up and down.

Carolyn looked at the Brit, and closed her coat over her hospital gown.

Carter and Dunn lowered their weapons while Ethan walked over to a computer screen. He pushed a button and it turned into a table. He placed the small USB port onto the screen that blared to life. _Ethan Hunt._ "Agent confirmed," the female robotic voice said.

Dunn handed Carolyn a towel. She looked up at him, and he offered it to her.

"Thanks," she said, trying to stay quiet and out of the way.

Carter looked over at the civilian, eyeing her carefully, and watching her every move.

"How will the world finally end?" A woman's voice heard throughout the travel car and made its way to Carolyn's virgin ears.

Carolyn looked up at the man standing behind the podium.

"It is my job to predict the unthinkable, to treat the death of billions as a game," the translator continued. "After twenty years of this, I was numb, until a new question crossed my mind."

Carter noticed the civilian's intense facial expression, and it made Carter a little uncomfortable. What on Earth was she doing here? She shouldn't have to hear any of this. Technically, she wasn't even allowed to be here, but yet, she was. Whatever the circumstances were before hand coming here, Carter noticed Carolyn's awful cuts, and bruises on her face. She'd been through hell, and hearing this garbage wasn't going to make it any easer on her.

Carter walked over to her bag of clothes and took out a pair that might fit her, despite the tall and short differences in height. Taking out a pair of dark jeans, a long-sleeve V neck, some socks, and a sweater, she handed it to Carolyn. "Here," she said. "We have a small bathroom where you can change if you'd like. Um, I know you're a bit shorter than me, but anything's better than a hospital gown, right?"

Carolyn finally tore her eyes away from the screen, and looked at the warm clothes that looked like heaven. She smiled up at Carter, and hugged them between her fingers. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

Carolyn got up from her seat, still listening to the translator in the background.

"What happens after the end of the world?" the translator asked.

Carolyn walked over to the bathroom, and turned slightly to hear the translator, unable to help but listen at the hollow voice.

"Hey," Brandt said next to her. She looked at him, tearing her eyes away from the screen again. He'd changed from his suit to warmer clothes. "It's free," he said, running a hand behind his neck.

She nodded, and walked inside, closing the door behind her. She looked around the space she had, and frowned. It was small, but she'd make due with what she had.

She glanced at herself in the small mirror above the sink. She felt the small cut on her bottom lip, and used the towel that Dunn had given her to wash her face as much as she could.

"Every two or three million years, some natural catastrophe devastates all life on Earth," The translator said. "But life goes on, and what little remains is made stronger."

Carolyn let out a deep sigh, and tried her best to just change and focus on fixing herself up a little bit better. She discarded her jacket and hospital gown in the trash and eagerly slipped into her jeans and v-neck shirt. Carter even gave her socks too. She smiled at the gesture of socks.

She opened the mirror cabinet in search for a hair brush, but all she found were painkillers and a comb. She took both, and slammed the mirror shut. She walked outside of the bathroom to join the others, and closed the door lightly behind her where she saw Ethan crunched over at a desk, talking on a cell phone. Carolyn eyed him curiously as she walked over to sit down beside Carter. Carter handed her some boots to wear, and a glass of water to drink.

Carolyn knew what Carter was doing, but she was grateful for the distraction anyway because the message given out to them was just too horrible to bear. She leaned her head back against the wall and took two pills from the bottle she found in the bathroom, and downed it with the water in her hand. Sighing with relief, she set it down next to her and closed her eyes, waiting for the relief to kick in.

"Put simply, world destruction is an unpleasant but necessary part of evolution."

Brandt had leaned against a side of the wall that suddenly revealed an array of guns of all shapes and sizes. He jumped startled. Dunn, Carter, and Carolyn looked over at the wall of guns that was suddenly revealed. Brandt nodded and walked away.

"What happens then I wondered when mankind faces the next end of the world," the translator said.

Brandt sat down across from Carolyn. She watched him with a small smile on her face. He cleaned up nicely. Looking at Brandt was a lot better than listening to the crazy psycho man on the screen.

"I don't care what you have to do to get him to Dubai," Ethan whispered over the phone. "I'll make it worth his while just do _it_. Yeah, I'll be waiting for your call."

"I look to Hiroshima," the translator continued. "Thriving cities, rebuilt from the ashes, monuments to the unimaginable, dedicated to the concept of peace."

But the voice was still strong in her ears. Every word spewing from the translator's mouth made her ill. Carolyn couldn't believe what she was hearing as she continued to comb the damp tangles of her hair.

This man was obviously insane if he thinks killing every life form on the planet was going to give this world…peace.

"It occurred to me here, that nuclear war might have a place in the natural order," the translator continued. "But only if it can be controlled. Only if it touched every living soul, equally."

Carolyn looked up at those words hanging in the air. She looked at the man's face frozen on screen, and shivered. She pulled up her knees against her chin. It was too awful.

"You're going to stop him…right?" she asked timidly.

Ethan looked at Carolyn and nodded slowly.

"IMF now believes this man Kurt Hendricks is a nuclear extremist, codename: Cobalt. Today he was seen leaving the Kremlin with what is likely a nuclear launch device," Ethan said. "Two days ago, Sabine Moreau killed one of our agents in Budapest, relieved him of Russian nuclear launch codes. Intel indicates she will check into the Burj Hotel in Dubai in thirty-six hours. Marious Wistrom is a known operative working for Cobalt. Winstrom is currently en route to Dubai," Ethan explained.

Carolyn looked at his picture on the screen and widened her eyes at the familiarity of the face. She stretched out her legs and stood on her feet, still glancing at the picture. _Uh-oh…_ she thought, cringingly. How could she have been so stupid?

"For the launch device to work," Ethan said. "Cobalt needs the activation codes. He's sending Winstrom to buy them from Moreau," Ethan pointed to Moreau's face on screen two behind Carolyn.

"Carolyn?" he asked, noticing her eyes staring at the picture next to him.

"I know that man," she said, glaring at the screen.

"You _know_ him?" Ethan asked, pointing at Wistrom.

She nodded, looking at Ethan. "He was the one who recommended that I visit the Kremlin."

"Are you sure?" Ethan asked.

"I never forget a face," she said, shaking her head.

"Where did you see him?" Ethan asked.

"I was _sitting_ right next to him on the airplane, on the way to Moscow," she said, face pale. "He said, and I quote, I hear the Kremlin is nice this time of year…" she winced. "It was just one of those normal conversations you have on the plane with someone, you know? He seemed…nice." she leaned back against the wall, feeling stupid. "Apparently not."

"It can happen to anybody," Dunn said sympathetically.

She rolled her eyes. "Right," she scoffed, shaking her head. She slid back down in her seat, and buried her head within her knees.

Ethan nodded slowly. "There wasn't much you could've done, you didn't know."

Carolyn wished she believed otherwise.

"The Secretary is dead," Ethan said, glancing back at his team. Brandt just shook his head, and Carolyn looked upset. "The President has invoked Ghost Protocol. We're shut down. No satellite safe house, support, or extraction. The four of us, and the contents of this car, are all that remain of the IMF. And as of this moment any action is unsanctioned, so if you want out, speak now," he played with the remote in his hands, waiting for anyone to speak up.

Carolyn glanced around her. No one said a thing, except for maybe Brandt, but Brandt didn't say anything either. She wasn't sure what to say since she wasn't part of the IMF, so she just kept her mouth shut. According to Ethan, she had no choice but to stay with them until they were in the clear to send her home.

"Our mission is Hendricks," Ethan said once he'd gotten the final word. Everyone was on board to take this guy down. Knowing that Ethan had a good team on his hands made Carolyn feel a little bit better. "We're all that stands between him and his goal. Nothing can be left to chance. Everything connected with this man is considered an asset with valuable information about our target. No one can know we're still online. We loose Hendricks now, we loose him forever."

"So," Carter said. "What's the play?"

"Wistrom will take delivery from Moreau in thirty-six hours. Now we cannot let the launch codes leave the hotel. But we need Wistrom lead us to Hendricks."

"He'll only do that if he has the codes," Brandt said.

"Or if he _thinks_ he has them," Carter said, looking at the analyst.

"Our objective," Ethan said, raising his hand in the air to get his team's attention. "Is to intercept the sale, to place the authentic codes with counterfeits, and follow Wistrom to Hendricks."

"Well," Dunn said. "That's, that's simple enough," he walked away from the wall and pointed at the pictures. "We snatch the codes, gin up some fakes; Jane you double Moreau, sell the codes to Wistrom, and Bob's your uncle!"

Carolyn furrowed her brows at Dunn's words curiously. What kind of agency was this?

"And, uh, how do you propose that we just snatch the codes from Moreau?" Brandt asked, leaning back, and resting his elbows on his knees.

"We take her out," Jane said without missing a beat.

Carolyn raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, we take her out," Dunn said. "But you know…discreetly."

"Discreetly?" Brandt asked.

"Yeah," Jane said.

"Right, she's an asset…" Dunn said, looking at Ethan's face. "I get it so...nothing left to chance. I'm just spit-balling, you know? It's not all going to be gold…"

"We don't touch Wistrom, or Moreau," Ethan said firmly, glancing at Jane. Jane frowned, looking at her team leader. "Now, she'll answer for Hanaway, but it has to be when I say it, after we get Hendricks."

Carolyn glanced between Ethan and Jane, and wondered what happened to Jane. She could sense that Jane was close to this agent they lost in their field. She didn't know much about the spy world, but she did know a little bit about falling in love. She'd dreamed one day she could, but lately with her recent turn of events at home…she hadn't felt like she deserved love.

Once Ethan finished up the briefing, as he'd called it, everyone started to gear up for the mission. Carolyn just stood there in the middle, unsure of what to do.

"Only pack what we need," Ethan ordered.

"Right," Dunn said, "Well you never know…" he grabbed some technology stuff of his own, and packed it up.

Ethan walked over to Carolyn, bag in hand. "I know you were expecting to get on a plane and get out of here…but I'm afraid Dubai's not the safest place to let you loose. Think you can stick around with us a little bit longer?"

"Ethan," Jane said, packing up her gun. "She can't stay with us. She could compromise the whole mission, especially if she knows Wistrom. She'll be in danger."

Carolyn gulped, glancing at Jane. "I won't do anything…I promise. I won't get in the way."

"It doesn't matter, you're a liability," Brandt said.

"She can stay with me in the hotel," Dunn said, sending her a wink. "They won't even know she checked in."

Brandt and Jane looked at him crazily.

"Right…FOC," he muttered under his breath.

"FOC?" Carolyn repeated, flabbergasted.

"Freaked out civilian," Ethan's team responded in sync.

"But I'm not freaked out…" she stammered slightly, hugging herself. Carolyn frowned. Okay, so she kind of was, but she was getting better. If she could find a shower in Dubai, she'd be ten times better. "I mean not anymore. I'm…calmer…"

"Wait till you get to Dubai," Ethan said, handing her own bag. "Just in case. Benji's right, you never know."

 **~*S*~**


	6. Peanuts

**A/n:** Thank you so so much for the amazing support! I really do appreciate it! It really makes my day when I see a follower, reviewer, or a favoriter, so thank you! And just for being cool people, here's another chapter!

Small side note, this is kind of just a small filler chapter until I figure out where to place Carolyn during the whole Dubai scene. Apart of me is struggling with the idea of having her scale the hotel because I'm not sure if she's ready for that yet. She may have to sit this one out. I promise she'll get to do some cool spy stuff in the future?

And I'm nervous about posting this chapter, not sure why, but I hope you like anyway!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Mission Impossible. MI and everything else related belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC.

 **Chapter 6: Peanuts**

At least the plane ride to Dubai was quiet, Chief Analyst William Brandt thought as he glanced around his surroundings. He didn't know how Benji scored them seats at such short notice without being detected, but that sneaky technician did, and he was impressed with his handy work of covering their tracks.

And now here they were, the four of them, plus Carolyn on their way to Dubai to stop something from happening without anyone realizing it. How were they supposed to do that? Brandt wondered curiously.

He was a thinker, one of the many reasons he always had trouble sleeping. But, Brandt grimaced in mid thought, orders were orders.

" _Get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow_ ," Ethan's words played in his head over and over like a broken record player. Brandt tried to sleep, but he was utterly over-tired, and exhausted. He'd had a rough couple of days, and seeing Ethan Hunt return in his life didn't make things any easier. How was he the lucky one to be apart of something like this? Or was it coincidence? Or was it something worse?

He winced at the biting tiredness threatening his heavy eyes, and rubbed his eyes desperately trying to get rid of the burning in his eyes. He wanted his racing mind full of questions, and previous events all leading to now to slow down. Most of all? He just wanted to sleep, but all he could think about was…should he tell him?

"Peanut?" someone beside him asked.

He looked at them startled, and realized it was just their FOC, Carolyn. She was offering him a bag of peanuts. He backed away a bit from them and shook his head.

"No," he said. "Sorry, I'm allergic."

 _So much for quietness,_ he thought and drew in a small sigh.

Carolyn nodded, and leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, I know that life. Guess what I'm allergic to?" she asked inconspicuously, hiding her peanut bag away from him.

Brandt glanced around and then looked at her, wondering why she was being so inconspicuous, and then let out a small chuckle. He realized she was just being playful due to the whole spy game they were both stuck in.

"Penicillin?" he played along.

Carolyn stuck her tongue out at him, grinning. "Almonds," she whispered. "I know, I know!" she exclaimed in an excited whisper. He watched her air of animatedness with amused eyes. "One of the healthiest nuts in the world, and I'm allergic to almonds. It's _so_ unfair."

"Life often isn't," Brandt said.

Carolyn didn't like his tone, and decided to change the tone between them. "Neither of us can sleep right now. _That's_ not fair."

"You're awfully chipper for this time of night," Brandt said. "Sure you didn't hit your head too hard recently?"

"Har, har," she said, shaking her head. "Nope, Mr. Chief Analyst. Just give me food, and I am a happy woman."

Brandt looked around him again and noticed that most of the people in their area of the plane were dead asleep. Even Benji was snoring up a storm, seated not too far from them.

"Can I tell you another secret?" she asked after silence seeped in between the two. She often tried to avoid awkward silences.

"I'm in the business of secrets," Brandt said with a tired wave of his hand, giving her the right of passage to speak. "Shoot."

"I'll be truthful this time," Carolyn promised, holding up her own hand. "Scout's honor."

"I do like a little truth," Brandt said, nodding, "That's always welcome."

"Sleep doesn't exactly come easily for me either you know," Carolyn said. "Even when I _try_ , like breathing exercises, and counting sheep and all that stuff, I just can't."

"How come?" Brandt asked as if curiosity had bit him on the behind. It probably did back in Moscow. _Damn Moscow_. He was never going back.

"Well," she said. "You want to know the _real_ reason why I was in Moscow?"

Brandt tilted his head from side to side, and nodded. "That would be nice, yeah."

Carolyn looked into her bag of peanuts and sighed, chagrined. "I kind of accidentally broke some guy's nose, and he landed in the hospital," Carolyn cringed.

"I'm sorry, you _what_?" Brandt turned to the side to face her so his back was toward the aisle of the airplane.

"Maybe a broken rib cage or two," she winced at that, and didn't like the judgmental look Brandt had on his face.

She let out a sigh, preparing herself to tell Brandt the truth. "I was working as a cocktail waitress on weekend nights, and this guy, a regular, who came in every Saturday, he um, he wouldn't stop trying to make a pass at me and so one day, he actually _tried_ to...you know, and I finally had enough, so, I broke his nose. I should've thought before hand because it wasn't after until I realized he was mega-rich. Part of the one percent crowd, you know? And now he's pressing charges against me," Carolyn said, feeling her cheeks grow red, deep with embarrassment. "So, you can say that I really _was_ on vacation that my therapist decided to send me. It's what the doctor ordered to relieve myself of my apparent "anger issues"." Carolyn said. "I _do_ want to go home, eventually, I'm just…" she sighed. "Scared to. Guess, I'm just not ready to face those charges in court."

Brandt's eyes danced along her small frame as she closed her eyes, sliding back in her seat.

"Please don't tell Ethan," she whispered.

"Why are you telling me?" Brandt asked.

"Seemed like you could use the distraction," she said, leaning slightly over at him, but careful to keep the bag of peanuts a good distance away from him. Brandt arched an eyebrow. She smiled. "And I wanted to let you know that you can trust me."

"I never saw you as a threat," Brandt said.

"I may just be a civilian, Mr. Brandt, but I still have a brain," she said. "You didn't believe me about me being on vacation."

"Had a good reason to not believe you," Brandt said, leaning back in his seat.

"Why?" she frowned.

"You were with Ethan Hunt," Brandt said with a slight smile on his face. He closed his eyes, leaving Carolyn to eat her peanuts in silence.

He peeked one eye open at her, and watched her staring at the dark Arabian skies through the small window. Why did Brandt have a feeling she was going to be the death of him? It was a mistake to bring Carolyn this far on the mission. Then again, did Hunt really leave them a choice? Moscow was a mess. When did his life become even more complicated than before? One scenario was enough…he didn't need this either. He sighed and tried to sleep for whatever time they had left before Dubai.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n:** I really hope I got Brandt's personality okay. Not sure if he's allergic to peanuts, but I figured why not? And no, this isn't Bridge Nath, she's talking about. She's just talking about a random rich guy that tried to hit on her. This a/n is given for clarification. :)


	7. Dubai

**A/n: New chapter! Enjoy on a rainy day…days! The soundtrack to Ghost Protocol is so beautiful! Great mood writing! :) Ghost protocol has so many great scenes, and I love the one where they're in the jeep driving to the city. So gorgeous! So describing things is not my strong suit, but I'm working on it to the best of my abilities! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC, and I'm only writing for fun!**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 7**

Never in a million years did Carolyn ever think she would find herself in Dubai in the country of United Arab Emirates, or countries. She scratched her head. She could never get that right. She didn't mean to get little things like that wrong, she just didn't know much about the Middle-East. Honestly, she could only think about the horrible stories she's seen on the media, and not once was Dubai one of her dream places to go to for vacation. She bit her bottom lip tentatively in her thought track, maybe she ought to stop watching the news so much. She rubbed her eyes, and looked at it again. It didn't seem _that_ menacing, just sandy.

Sandy was describing Dubai very mildly. Dubai was literally full of deserted terrain, patches of bush here and there along the dusty hills, and there was a slight chance of seeing a camel. She looked outside the jeep's window in complete awe as Ethan drove the jeep down the road to the populated city. She pointed excitedly at the camel along the side of the desert until it got old after seeing camel after camel.

Despite her current circumstances, Carolyn couldn't help, but enjoy herself. Why not? She was supposed to be on vacation after all, and Moscow turned out to be a bust. A _near death bust_! She rolled her eyes to herself, and shrugged. She wasn't going to leave Ethan and his team any time soon, so _Carpe Diem_.She may as well just go along for the ride. It was easy to forget that the world hanged on a balance when she could travel to a mysterious place beyond her comfort zone.

Carolyn shifted uneasily in her seat. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt. In fact, neither were Brandt and Benji. They were just sitting there, Brandt, hugging his backpack, and Benji, working hard on his laptop. And what was she doing? She was leaning against the back window, using her own bag for back support. It was definitely not the most comfortable of ways to be sitting in a jeep only because she was flanked between Brandt and Benji in a tight space.

Ethan and Jane called shotgun.

Just as well, Carolyn thought dryly. She'd get stuck in the back. _Next time, I'm calling shotgun,_ she thought, taking out her bag from underneath her and started her dyer search for water.

There was no a/c in this jeep, and looking out at the desert just made her mouth water more. She was thankful for her hair tie to keep her hair out of her face, though, and the sunglasses to keep the sun from harming her eyes, but she was still thirsty. But sunglasses, she didn't need right now, she pushed them up on her head to get a better look inside her bag. She heard stories of mirages and she didn't want that to happen to her. She frantically looked inside her bag, but came up empty handed. Great.

"Hmph," she said.

"What?" Benji asked, looking up from his laptop.

"I thought I packed a water in here before we left," she said, still searching the back pockets too.

"You did," Brandt said. "And you drank it. I keep telling you, we have limited resources, and we need to ration everything, including water."

"Ah, but!" Carolyn said, pausing in mid-sentence so she could take out her silver platinum card from her bag. She waved the card Ethan had given her in Brandt's face. "That's what gift shops are for, and I bet this hotel has an _amazing_ gift shop. It is one of the tallest buildings in the world, right Benji?"

Benji looked up from his laptop and saw her questionable waiting face. He looked over at Brandt, who was also looking at her, and just nodded, choosing to be silent because he was definitely not taking sides.

"For emergencies only," Ethan reminded her.

She looked up at him through the rear view mirror. "I'd say having no water calls for an emergency."

"Our room will have plenty of water when we get in," Jane said. "No worries, right?" she asked, sending Carolyn an encouraging smile.

Carolyn sighed. "Right," she said.

Brandt reached over her and snatched the card away from her. "Besides, it's precarious to just be wandering in the Burj Khalifa when we still have our Russian friends to look after."

"Where's your sense of adventure, Mr. Brandt?" Carolyn teased, and reached for the platinum card from his hands. "Sides, Benji has that covered for us, right Benji?" She pocketed it, and placed her stuff back so she could lean against it.

Benji just nodded, typing away on his laptop, careful not to get in the middle of anything.

"What did they put in those peanuts?" Brandt muttered under his breath.

Carolyn made a face at him, and leaned back. She thought maybe trying to stay focus ahead of her, would do the trick. Maybe that was better than to think about how thirsty she was.

Silence enclosed around them inside the jeep, and Carolyn started to shift in her seat, feeling slightly uncomfortable because her leg was quickly falling asleep. She tucked her legs underneath her and leaned back, still trying to get in a comfortable position. This was _not_ working. She sighed a huff, blowing a piece of brown hair out of her eyes.

Ethan honked his horn a couple times at the trucks in the way. He maneuvered the jeep around them, speeding down the highway.

She glanced out the window, passing the few trucks on the road, and shook her head. She switched positions again. Painkillers! The thought excited her as she searched high and low in her bag for painkillers that she packed with her before they left Moscow, and found the box in one of the tiny pockets on her bag. She popped open the cap, and felt her shoulders slump in defeat. Yeah, she was _definitely_ stopping by at the gift shop when she got there. The painkillers were miracle wonders when it came to her and healing from that bombing of the Kremlin. How in the world did these people keep up with their strength and energy? They must've had a lot of practice in the field to just be chill like this, she thought, and tossed the empty pill bottle back into her bag.

Brandt looked over at Carolyn's sudden predicament of trying to get comfortable. She seemed a bit either agitated, or restless, or maybe it was just her way of trying to distract herself from her current situation? Benji was like a pro, so Brandt didn't have to worry about him. He was already on the laptop, probably covering their tracks, and trying to get everything situated for them at the hotel. Jane was cool, calm and collective, taking after Ethan, who probably focused on the mission better when he was actually doing something, like driving them to their destination. He looked over at their FOC again, making involuntarily small voices, as she tried to get settled to the best of her ability, and shook his head. There was a reason the IMF hand-picked agents for something like this. They were well trained at what they did, and they could handle themselves in any situation given to them because of their unique skill-set.

Carolyn was not trained for this. She was just extra luggage on their hands. A person they had to keep an eye on in case things went south. Brandt wasn't completely sure how she was going to fair during their meeting with Moreau and Wistrom. That made him a bit nervous. He glanced up at the front seat.

"So, even if we can double Wistrom and Moreau, how do we keep them in separate rooms while having them think that they're in the same room?" Brandt asked Ethan. This plan that they were about to delve into really gnawed at him, and he just wanted things to go smoothly. It seemed like it could work. Ethan had that air of confidence in his eyes when he told them the play, but how was it going to work so well like Ethan thought it would?

"We give the hotel a facelift," Ethan replied. "Wistrom will think he's arriving at Moreau's suite, but really he'll be walking into our decoy room."

"Where I'll double Moreau," Jane said.

"Downstairs, Benji will double Wistrom," Ethan continued.

"Masks!" Benji said, winking at Brandt.

Carolyn looked at Benji curiously. Benji noticed her curious stare. "I'll explain later," he said in a whisper over Ethan's explanation. Carolyn nodded.

"And meet with the real Moreau," Ethan said.

"And uh, heh, what am I doing?" Brandt asked with a small shrug.

"You," Benji said, looking at Brandt across from his seat. "You're the _helper_!"

"Helper," Brandt said to himself, nodding at that. "That's great."

"Can I help?" Carolyn asked tentatively. She was _definitely_ curious and interested in this mission. Wearing masks to double these bad people had caught her attention.

"No," They responded in sync. Benji shook his head, and Carolyn leaned her head back against the window with a sigh.

"Will you at least let me shower?" she asked.

"If it'll keep you out of trouble," Ethan said with a shrug. "Have at it."

"Thank you," Carolyn said, a little bit more satisfied at the situation ahead of her. That finally made her relax.

Brandt rolled his eyes at her. Yeah, Brandt thought, it was not a good idea to bring Carolyn this far out. But here she was, flanked between him and Benji traveling to the tallest building in the world on a mission that's supposed to be classified for civilians like her. He shook his head, and tried to focus on the information Ethan had just now fed him in his mind.

"Okay, so to the extent of what I understand about what you're talking about here," Brandt continued. "The Burj Khalifa, it's the tallest building in the world," Brandt said, and Carolyn couldn't help but smile in knowing she was right about that little bit of information. See? She still liked culture.

"And you want to alter its infrastructure with the hopes of convincing two people that had a meeting, which actually, never really happened…" Brandt glanced between Benji and Ethan. "Right?"

Ethan smiled in response, glancing at him before Jane suddenly tried to warn Ethan that he wasn't paying attention because they were about to hit a family of camels, waltzing down the highway. She pointed in front of her anxiously as Ethan swerved off the road to avoid a hoard of camels walking along the right side of the road, causing everyone in the back to fall over. Jane gripped onto the side of the jeep's handle for dear life, Benji lost control of his lap top, Brandt hit his head on the ceiling, and Carolyn lost her balance, hitting her shoulder against the hard metal of the jeep.

Carolyn pushed herself back up as pieces of her hair had fallen out of her bun. She brushed them out of the way. "I'd like to _try_ to live at some point today, Ethan," Carolyn said.

Ethan looked up at her through his rear view mirror and winked through his sunglasses, while he looked at Jane, "Camels," he said.

Brandt laughed, sitting back in his seat. Carolyn looked over at Brandt, smiling a little at his laugh. She couldn't help it. His laugh was infectious to her ears.

It put a smile on her face for the rest of the way to Dubai.

They finally reached their destination on the outskirts of the city. Carolyn thought they were staying at _the_ hotel, but Ethan explained to her that that was just base room for their mission.

"Oh," she said, walking into their interesting quarters. It wasn't exactly a house. Small apartment maybe? Or a small hut? It was kinda big for a hut. She wasn't exactly sure what to call it. It was beside the train station in Dubai, and would take less than twenty minutes to get to the hotel.

"You can shower here. We'll have time to get ready before we check in," Ethan said, offering her the bathroom to the right.

She walked to the bathroom and pushed the doors open, poking her head inside. Glancing around her, she spotted a small sink, dirty mirror, and there it was, the small shower that she was a little nervous about stepping into. She placed her bag on the toilet's seat and sighed. "Time to adapt," she said to herself.

She walked further inside toward the shower and wrinkled her nose. She was really trying not to be a picky person when it came to cleanliness and hygiene and all that goodness, but she couldn't help it. Brown and orange rust were visible in her eyes. She turned the shower on. At first it didn't work until she knocked it a few times to get the water to sprinkle onto the tub. The water washed away the rust and dirt left behind into the drain.

There was a knock at the door, startling Carolyn. "Find everything okay?" Jane asked. "If you want, you can stay here during the mission. You don't have to be with us. I think that might be better for you."

"No," Carolyn said suddenly, turning around to face the agent. She didn't want to be alone in a foreign city. "No, sorry, it's just um…I'll be fine. Um," She said, turning to Jane as she walked inside, closing the door behind her. "I really do want to help."

Jane couldn't help but smile at the civilian's goodwill in her. Perhaps Carolyn could be trusted, but unfortunately, she was still a liability, and they had to protect her. They couldn't afford another civilian's casualty. Jane turned around and twisted her mouth in thought. The girl didn't seem like she belonged here in this place either. Jane stole a peek at her. Carolyn looked out of place, and awkward, dressed in Jane's clothes that were too big for her. And this place? Jane looked up and around her surroundings. It wasn't ideal, but Jane could make do. Jane adapted quite easily to places like this. However, this wasn't just any place for any normal human being to be in. Jane looked at Carolyn again and sighed. Maybe the safest place for her to be would be with their Helper."I'm sure Mr. Brandt wouldn't mind the help, while we all play our parts."

After Jane unzipped her bag, she took out a soft blue suit she was going to wear as Sabine Moreau. She hooked it up on the door hook, and went in the shower.

Carolyn tilted her head to the side as Jane closed the shower curtain. She arched her eyebrows. "After you," she muttered.

"Sorry!" Jane called over the noise of the shower running. "Not a lot of time here. I've grown accustomed to getting ready under ten minutes. Sometimes five. I just focus on the mission and what I have to do. Do you mind taking out the shoes in the bag for me?"

"Ookay," Carolyn said and walked over to Jane's bag of tricks sitting on a chair beside the sink. She zipped it open and searched for the shoes. She noticed a hair-dryer, and a straightener stuffed in there as well. How the hell does she pack it all in? "So, what exactly does IMF stand for?" she asked.

"Impossible Mission Forces," Jane said, running her fingers through the tangles of her dark hair getting drenched by the rain of water running down on her. It felt so good, especially after everything she'd been through the last few days on the mission. "They train you and you work your way up. The higher level you go, the higher cases you get."

"Like the one in Budapest?" Carolyn asked, glancing slightly over her shoulder at Jane.

Jane turned the water off. "Towel?" she asked.

Carolyn found a towel and tossed it to her. She caught it and wrapped herself up and stepped out of the shower.

"I'm sorry," Carolyn cringed, putting the high-heeled shoes besides Jane's bag. "I'm just trying to understand all of this."

"That's just it," Jane said. "You're not supposed to."

Carolyn frowned, and leaned back against the wall. Jane found another towel and wrapped it around her.

"I didn't mean to make you upset," Carolyn said, noting the silence from the agent, getting ready for her role as Sabine Moreau.

Jane started to shake out her hair, and tried to get it as dry as she possibly could. She took out a comb to untangle the wet strands. She quickly started combing out the snarls. "You can still shower. It won't bite you," Jane said with a hint of a smile on her face.

She flipped her dark hair over her shoulders, and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked in the mirror and at Carolyn behind her. "We don't have _that_ much time. It's less than an hour to door knock, and the Burj Khalifa is still twenty minutes out."

"Right," Carolyn grimaced, figuring she'd crossed a line with Jane and tried to smooth it over with a lame joke. "Any chance of me getting tetanus?"

"As long as you've had your tetanus shot when you were little," Jane said put the sky blue dress on over her head and smoothed out any wrinkles that might be shown, and grabbed her jacket off the hook. "You should be fine."

"Okay," Carolyn said, nodding. Carolyn walked over to her bag and started to pull out her own things she was able to pack from the cache car back in Moscow.

"No more then ten minutes, yeah?" Jane asked.

"You got it," Carolyn said, watching Jane leave with her bag of tricks, and blue high heels in hand.

Carolyn looked at the shower, and winced. She drew in a deep brave sigh. If Jane could fit in this world of crime and grime? Carolyn could too.

With that thought in mind, she slipped out of her clothes, her shoes, and put on the flip flops. She took a deep breath. "Okay, okay," she tried not to panic, stepping into the shower. It's just a shower…just like any normal shower… she could totally do…but she heard something hiss at her, and she felt her face grow pale. She cringed, fearing what may be lurking behind her. Gulping, she turned around slowly and dared to look down at the bottom of the tub. Widening her eyes, she backed slowly into the shower head, hitting her head. "Owe," she said, rubbing her head, as the scorpion moved closer toward her. She turned the shower off and ran out of the shower as fast as she could, closing the doors behind her with a loud snap, causing the team to look up from their work.

Brandt finished up changing into his suit. He was buttoning up his shirt when she came out of the shower in fear.

"On second thought," she said, glancing at them as Benji looked at her with wide eyes. "I'm good. Don't need to shower. I can wait." She walked away, standing over next to Jane, hugging herself timidly. "Ah," she shivered, trying to shake out of the fear that she was almost bitten by a scorpion. She was really trying to be calm about the situation until _that_.

"What happened?" Jane asked.

"I don't shower with scorpions," Carolyn said.

Ethan looked up from Benji's lap top, rolling his eyes. "A scorpion?" Ethan asked her.

"Those things are poisonous, you know," Carolyn replied, making Brandt laugh. Carolyn looked up at him, and turned beat red, feeling totally mortified. She then realized she was just in her towel, and she hugged herself as best as she could.

Benji smiled, and continued to work on his laptop, getting them inside the Burj Khalifa.

"Only if you piss them off," Ethan said.

"Oh please," Jane said, looking at Carolyn's fearful expression on her face. Jane took a stand, and walked straight into the bathroom. She scooted the shower curtain over, and smiled at the little black scorpion. "Come here little guy," she said, and let her hand forward for the scorpion to climb on it. She walked out of the room with a new friend on her hands. "See? Harmless."

Carolyn shivered at the scorpion in Jane's hand. "Easy for you to say, you're like Wonder-Woman." she mumbled.

Jane opened the door, and let the scorpion go free. "Off you go," Jane said, and walked back inside, dusting her hands off. "There, shower's free."

"Well, it's about forty-five minutes to door knock," Ethan announced, tilting his head to the side, and he looked at Carolyn's unkempt state. "I'm afraid you don't have time."

"I'll get the car started," Jane offered.

"I guess I'll just change," Carolyn muttered.

Benji and Brandt started packing up their gear off the table, ready to go to the Burj Hotel.

"Watch out for those scorpions, scardy-cat," Brandt said as she walked passed him. She looked at him behind her shoulder, and he winked at her before she headed inside to quickly change back into street clothes, wishing the whole time that she would just stop blushing.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n:** I couldn't resist writing that. Lol. I love Jane. She's a great character. It's probably going to take me awhile to get used to writing her, but she's really cool, so maybe I'll ease into the character as I go along. A little bit of fun before it gets serious! Hope you liked!


	8. Blue Is Glue

**A/n: So, I edited a bit in the last chapter the bit between Jane and Carolyn and a little bit of Brandt :) Not much of an edit, but it reads much better, and the dialogue is a little bit stronger. So check it out, hope you liked the newer version of it. And let me know! The Burj Hotel! I actually kind of want to go visit it. It looks amazing!**

 **Enjoy! Thank you to all my readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC, and I am only writing for fun!**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 8: Blue Is Glue**

They made it to the Burj Hotel in due time. Carolyn walked beside Ethan, following Benji, Brandt, and Jane to their base room. Across the busy lobby area, she saw the gift shop that called to her eyes. She started to drift over until Benji stopped her from going inside.

"Sorry love," Benji said, steering her in the right direction, toward the elevators.

"But," Carolyn protested, but Benji shook his head.

"I would've bought you all gifts," she said as they walked inside the elevator. Brandt pressed the floor button to their base room.

It was quiet the rest of the ride to their base room. Once they arrived, Carolyn noticed the hotel's hallway design in intricate detail. Everything seemed so modern, and clean. It was so cool. The Burj Hotel probably had some awesome amenities like room service, all you can eat buffet, and high-def T.V. that Carolyn was never going to get to enjoy. She was just supposed to stand-by, and hope that this meeting went smoothly, so she could get out of this mess, and go home.

Carolyn walked inside the room, closing the door behind her, and looked at the suite in awe. Yeah, there was no way she could totally afford this in reality. She walked over to the massive windows that scaled the hotel, overlooking Dubai's beautiful city. Clear blue skies all around. Dubai's city had an amazing sky-line. It was so gorgeous and breathtaking. She looked down and gulped. That was a _long_ way down. She tip-toed back into someone and looked over at Brandt.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Brandt gave her a small smile, and walked over to the coffee table in the middle of the living room. He started to set up the lap-top.

It was like a mini-apartment that didn't have to feel like an apartment. It just felt like she was on vacation.

The boys were getting ready to set up, pulling out all their techie-equipment, while Jane straightened her hair in the restroom.

Brandt set down his bag on the coffee table, and stripped off his jacket, while Ethan, and Benji took out their stuff from their bags, laying it all out.

Carolyn walked around the suite inspecting every inch of the sleek and modern furniture that seemed to fit well within the room. She looked into the bedroom, and then the bathroom. It was massive.

"Wow," she said.

Jane looked at Carolyn in the mirror in the middle of curling the ends of her hair, and shook her head. Jane wanted to tell her the whole thing was an illusion, but she kept her mouth shut. The civilian had been through enough already, and the last thing she needed was to be disillusioned. Jane twisted her mouth in thought, as Carolyn left Jane be. Or, maybe she should be disillusioned… cause the woman still didn't seem to get that the world hanged in the balance, and they were on a mission to save it. Or maybe this was Carolyn's way of coping the real situation at hand? She shook her head and finished up with the straightener. She was just going to have to focus. Hendricks was the play, and she was going to double Moreau. She'd deal with the civilian later.

"Okay, Comms," Benji announced. Ethan looked up from the table closer to the door. He was just about to open the case until Benji held out four ear-pieces in the palm of his hand.

Jane walked out of the restroom fully dressed, and ready to go. She grabbed hers, and tossed one to Brandt who caught it in his hands.

Carolyn took a seat in one of the empty armchairs beside Benji with a tired sigh, and rubbed her eyes.

"Jane, you're up on dry-cleaning," Benji said.

"Got it," Jane said. "See you in a few."

Ethan tossed her the room key card, and she pocketed it in the inside of her shirt, waltzing out the door.

"She's kind of scary," Carolyn said.

"Jane? Nah, she's harmless…" Benji said, settling back in his seat, looking at his laptop. "She's just…" he looked at Ethan and Brandt and then looked over at her. "Going through a lot at the moment."

"It must be hard to loose someone you love," Carolyn said, softly, picking at a random piece of thread that had gotten loose from her shirt.

"It takes time," Benji said with an understanding nod.

"So, what are Comms?" Carolyn asked curiously, leaning over the armchair, and crossing her legs over the side with a grin on her face.

Benji looked at her grin, and shook his head. "Ear-pieces. They allow us to communicate with each other without all that chunky walki-talki's, and allow us to be _incognito_. I mean we can still use them, sometimes that's easier if someone like me were quarter-backing the mission like Brandt will be doing," Benji pointed to Brandt who was messing with the walkie-talkie, and checking to make sure it was working correctly. He set it down beside the lap-top and took out his phone, checking the time.

"ETA on dry-cleaning?" Ethan asked, checking in on Jane.

" _On my way up_ ," Jane replied.

"Cool," Carolyn said, leaning her chin against her closed fist. Her elbow rested along the armchair as she watched Benji work.

"Are you going to be staring at me the whole time?" Benji asked.

"Only until you double Wistrom," she said. "Not allowed out of the hotel."

Benji looked into the bedroom, and then to Carolyn. "You could shower here you know."

She arched an eyebrow. "Pardon?" she asked.

Benji smiled impishly. "It has _four_ different shower heads, and can really make your body all tingly inside."

Carolyn arched an eyebrow at Benji and couldn't help but giggle at his facial expression. "Benji!"

"What? If I wasn't doubling Wistrom," Benji said, looking warily at Ethan as he set up the mask machine on the dining room table. "I would totally sneak in and shower, get all swank-defied."

"You _are_ swank-defied, Benji," Carolyn said.

He blushed. "Thank you," he said, and looked back at his lap-top.

"Alright," Brandt announced. "It's thirty-four minutes to door knock." He put his phone on the table in front of them, as a reminder.

"Wow," Benji said, clearing his throat. "Um, okay. Now, now, this is a s-slight wrinkle but nothing, nothing to worry about. Just going to have to go into the server room from the _out_ -side."

Ethan looked up from the mask machine case, gripping onto it in shock. "What?" Ethan asked.

"Well, the," Benji pointed irritably at the laptop. "Firewall's Walls on this building's server is military-grade. I mean this would be a cinch if I could get Yussave back at head-quarters,"

Carolyn watched Brandt cross over to check it out on Benji's lap top, and leaned over the technician's shoulder.

"But it doesn't exist anymore, and neither do we. I can hack it, but it would take too long." Benji explained.

"Then hardwire it in," Ethan said, walking toward Benji.

"And there's four layer's of next-gen's security blocking the server room," Benji continued. "There's no way we can get to it from inside."

"That's bad right?" Carolyn asked.

"Yeah, but there are ways around it," Benji winked at her.

"If we can't get to the server, we don't control the elevators. We don't control the security cameras. This operation is over before it even begins," Brandt said, pacing.

Carolyn licked her lips, trying not to freak out. What did that mean?

"I'm telling you we can get to the server from the outside," Benji said.

"The _outside_? Like the _outside, outside_ of the hotel?" Carolyn asked, pointing to the window behind her. She was completely flabbergasted.

Benji nodded.

Carolyn's mouth dropped. No way. Oh. That's what that meant.

"We?" Ethan asked.

Benji glanced back and forth between Ethan and Brandt, before he pointed to the laptop. "I'm…I'm on the computer."

Ethan looked up at Brandt.

Brandt looked at Ethan, and then he shook his head. "And I'm just the uh…" he looked at Benji, who nodded at Brandt. "Helper."

Ethan turned to Carolyn.

She held her hands up in defense. "I'm just the FOC," she said.

"I can't…" Ethan began to say but then stopped, looking at Carolyn's sudden facial expression change from hopeful to a frown in a split second. He walked over to the window, now in thinking-mode. "What floor is it on?"

"A hundred-and-thirty," Benji replied.

"A _hundred_ -and-thirty?" Ethan said, a bit shocked.

Ethan pressed his hand to the window, feeling it out, weighing in the options that might be better than this death-defying solution Benji had come up with. There had to be another way. "Vent ducts," Ethan said.

"Pressure's unstable," Benji said.

"Not enough time," Brandt said at the same time.

"Elevator shaft," Ethan suggested.

"Inferred sensors," Benji said.

"Not enough time," Brandt sing-songed.

Carolyn watched with pure curiosity as she saw Benji take out a rather peculiar set of gloves in his hands.

"How am I supposed to do this?" Ethan asked more to himself than anyone else in the room.

Carolyn bit her lip. She'd heard him, and she was trying not to freak out as her American Super-Spy was getting a little wigged out about scaling the windows outside the hotel. She'd believed in him all this time, and she didn't want him to loose that confidence he had that made her start to feel safe. His confidence in knowing that they could do this, and he could get her out of this was what she kept her stable.

"It helps not to look down," she said, trying to put on a brave face for Ethan.

Ethan looked at her with a small smile, and then looked at his newest challenge as he tried to figure out what to do. He was met with an answer by the sound of a glove tossing and sticking onto the glass of the window like a magnet.

"So," Carolyn said. "From _my_ extent of what _I_ am trying to understand here, Ethan is going to climb the tallest building in the world just to get ourselves online and control every bit of technology in the hotel room for this mission, right?"

She looked at the boys as they gathered their gear for the mission at hand. Benji and Brandt worked on taking the window off with the tools they had with them.

Brandt chuckled, noticing she'd thrown his words back at him in a simpler form. " _Cute_ ," he said, lifting the window off the building with Benji's help. They moved it onto the side, and placed it gently on the ground. "That's still not going to get you inside the gift shop."

"Just sayin'," she beamed at him, taking her flip flops off, she tucked her feet underneath her.

Brandt walked back to his laptop, glancing at her slightly.

Smiling a bit when she seemed to settle in, and not get in their way, he went back to work.

"Okay," Benji said, tightening the gloves on Ethan's arms. Benji moved around his arm to turn the gloves on. The gloves lit up to life with a small noise to Carolyn's ears. "It's a _rolling_ off motion that disengages the bond," Benji demonstrated the rolling move with his hand. "When the meter is blue, that's full adhesion. Easy way to remember? Blue is glue."

"And when it's red?" Ethan asked.

"Dead," Benji said. "Here's your cutter, okay, and the server interface, both going back here. One, two." He placed the items into Ethan's tool belt, strapped behind him.

Carolyn's leg's slowly tucked out from underneath her and she looked at Ethan, the window again, and then Ethan. Blue is glue. Red is dead. She did not want Ethan to die. She didn't want _any_ of them to die.

"Okay, Ethan," Brandt said, counting the server room out in his head. "The hotel server is…eleven units up, and seven stories over." He pointed out toward the window. "Okay?"

Brandt took his ear piece to his lips, "Comm-check?" he looked at Ethan.

"Yeah," Ethan tilted his head a bit, holding his hand to his ear to adjust it a little. "Copy."

Benji sucked in a breath. "So," he gave an encouraging gesture as Ethan looked at his gloves.

He drew in a small breath, and let it out, preparing for the job ahead that seemed impossible to do, but then again Ethan was in that life. He had to do it.

"It's…twenty-six minutes to door knock," Brandt said. Carolyn got up from her seat and looked over at the time on his phone.

Ethan walked over to the window, and held onto the threshold. He looked down, and then around the dark windows he was supposed to scale over to the server room. He took a deep breath, and climbed out, grabbing onto the window with the glove. Ethan tested the glove a couple of times to make sure it stayed blue. When he felt as though he could trust the glove, he reached forward and let go of the threshold.

Carolyn, Benji, and Brandt watched anxiously.

When Ethan started to climb up the window, Benji cringed, and Carolyn winced, looking away.

She heard Benji sigh in relief when Ethan had found his niche, climbing the windows. Carolyn also let out a sigh of relief. She didn't know if she'd be able to watch him climb the windows like Spider-man so she opted to take Benji's advice.

"I'm going to shower while Ethan plays Spider-man," Carolyn said, she was about to go into the bedroom.

Benji started the mask machine, and Brandt moved in a different position so he could spot Ethan. "Twenty-five minutes to door knock," Brandt said.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Another chapter! More on the way! I'm excited! I promise more good stuff to come!**


	9. Bubbily Nerves

**A/n: I love Benji in this. He's so adorable! I just want to give him a hug. And yes, I do agree this part had me on the edge of my seat, I was so nervous watching it! And every time he falls, I still cringe. That's called greatness right there. Mhmm. For those of you who were reading my Avenger story, I took it down because it was becoming a hot mess. I'm gunna work on that a little more after I finish MI. :) Sorry about that!**

 **Enjoy the new chapter!**

 **Disclaimer; I do not own MI. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC.**

 **Chapter 9: Bubbly Nerves**

Carolyn tried to focus cleaning herself up, getting the dirt, and grime off of her from the past two days. It was hard to think of anything else while Ethan was climbing the tallest building in the world without a harness. She didn't know whether or not to think of him being brave or being stupid. Perhaps brave. He could not do it, and turn his back against them, but he didn't. She bit her bottom lip in mid-thought, letting the pressure of the water beam down on her in the most comforting way. It was like a much needed hug. The warm water cascaded on her shoulders and down her back, making any kinds of aches and pains just melt away. The smells from Moscow fleeted away. She still couldn't believe that they escaped the Russian police. Then again she was with a super-spy, American trained agent who knew what he was doing, and that comforted her. And now here he was in a life or death situation again, doing the unthinkable and that made her ridden with anxiety.

She turned around and stared at the window, trying to think of something else to calm her nervous nerves for Ethan. She wiped the steam away with the palm of her hand, and squinted outside to see if she could catch a glimpse of Ethan scaling the hotel, but she didn't see much of anything because it was too cloudy or too dusty. The skies were no longer blue. A sandstorm? How long was it going to take Ethan to scale the windows? How long did sandstorms come and go here in Dubai? Was Ethan going to make it in time? Was he going to be okay? These were all questions running through her mind, as she let the water soak the medium-thick strands of light brown hair. In the other room, she could hear the panicked voices of Ethan's team.

"What the hell is that?" Brandt asked suddenly, looking out at the window.

"Yeah, what the hell is that?" Ethan said, glancing behind him to stare at the massive dust cloud that loomed over the city behind him.

"That's a sandstorm," Benji said through his Comm. "It's a long way off Ethan, you should be fine."

Hearing those comforting words out of the technician's mouth made Carolyn calm down a bit.

"Twenty-four minutes to door-knock," Brandt announced.

That was it? Carolyn thought with a deep frown. It felt like much longer. Carolyn listened to the door open and close.

"Where's Ethan?" Jane's voice echoed into the room. "You gotta be kidding me."

No one was kidding. Ethan was really climbing seven stories high and eleven units over to the server room just so that they could get online to control the elevators and cameras inside the hotel. It was still pretty crazy that they were allowed to do this…or were they? IMF seemed like it was a reasonably reliable agency, and she didn't really see any other reason not to trust Ethan, or any of his teammates.

Taking a deep breath, she reached for the shampoo bottle and squirted some in her hair. She loved all the little tiny shampoo and conditioner bottles most hotels offered guests.

She was trying to think of anything other than Ethan climbing the walls because she didn't want him to fall. How much battery power did those gloves have? How much strength did Ethan have left? Would it stay blue? She gulped and massaged the shampoo in her hair rigorously.

Carolyn was pretty amazed that he was able to get her and him out of that Moscow hospital, and she promised that she would thank him one day if they all got out of this alive.

"Twenty-three minutes to door knock," Brandt announced.

Carolyn winced at the countdown. Was that really necessary? Just hearing Brandt out in the living space made Carolyn nervous. She was lost in her own worried thoughts, hoping, and praying Ethan would make it to the server room.

" _I'm at server level,"_ Ethan told his team through his ear Comm.

Carolyn worked through her hair to get the shampoo soap out of her hair until her hair was squeaky clean. Next she added the conditioner to the ends of her hair in the same fashion.

"Twenty-two minutes to door-knock," Brandt said.

" _The countdown is not helping!"_ Ethan yelled in Brandt's ear.

"Just sayin'," Brandt said with a small shrug.

" _I'm in,"_

"That's great Ethan, you're half-way home," Benji said.

Carolyn breathed a sigh of relief hearing those words coming from Benji's mouth, and turned around in the shower facing the light rainfall on her body. She ran her hands through the water and rubbed her face, wincing as she felt the rough edges of her cuts from the blast. They were probably going to stay there for a few days, she thought with a grimace. She reached for the soap bar, sitting on the windowsill and started to lather her body up with deliciously smelly soap.

" _Please tell me we're online."_

"Alright, we're live," Benji announced. "Okay, I now have control of the elevators and the security cameras."

"Time to redecorate," Jane said.

"Okay, you drive, and you look out for Wistrom and Moreau," Benji said to Brandt, as he went to help Jane out in the hallway. Brandt turned to face the laptop screen and took a seat.

"Moreau's at the elevator, she's ahead of schedule!" Brandt said.

Hearing Brandt's echo made Carolyn worry. She bit her lower lip, and tried to finish up in the shower as quickly as she could without slipping from the slippery floor beneath her feet.

"We can't open this door can we?"

"The door? No." Brandt said. "Ethan you gotta get down here, now! Ethan?"

The soap bar slipped out of Carolyn's hands and it fell onto the floor. She let out a small yelp in shock that she'd held it on so tightly due to the nerves bubbling up in her system.

"Ethan?"

Taking another deep breath, she let it out to calm herself down, and grabbed the soap off the floor. She put it back on the windowsill and turned the shower off.

She shivered as the cool air draft wafted from the air vents on the ceiling catching her bare skin as she stepped out onto the floor rug. She reached for a white towel from the side towel rack adorned along the marble wall and wrapped it around her small frame quickly to keep the cool air away from her.

"Is there a problem? Ethan?"

She could hear the slight worry in Brandt's voice and winced.

"We're not going to make it!" Brandt said.

"We _have_ to make it," Jane stressed.

Carolyn walked over to the mirror and double sinks that stretched across the bathroom and leaned against the wall, hugging her arms across her chest. She brought her fingers to her bottom lip, listening to the commotion outside. Where was Ethan? Why was it taking so long for him to come back home to them? She shook the nerves away as best she could and figured she needed to focus on getting herself back together to feel more like herself. Maybe that would help calm everything down and she could try to help them out. She needed to be doing something other than just standing by because it was way too nerve-wracking to just sit and do absolutely nothing.

"Where's Ethan?" Jane asked as if she'd read Carolyn's thoughts.

Within seconds Ethan threw the coiled rope down and ran down as fast as he could, down the windows, and ran horizontally across to the room.

"You're line's not long enough!" Brandt cupped his hands to shout at him.

"No shit!" Ethan yelled back.

Carolyn walked out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom where she spotted her clothes laid out for her on the bedspread.

She shimmied out of the towel, and replaced it with the yellow tank top and dark jeans she was currently borrowing from Jane.

Carolyn then decided to discard the towel back into the hamper inside the bathroom, grabbed a dry towel, and started to towel-dry her hair.

She took one last deep breath, and decided to brave the world again.

"Well, shower's free!" Carolyn beamed, walking back into the living room. As she continued to towel-dry her hair, she looked down at Brandt and Jane sprawled out on the floor, and out of breath like they'd just went through a heavy feat.

She looked to Ethan who was half-lying against the window. "Ethan, you're alive!"

Ethan glanced slightly up at her while Jane and Brandt looked over at her with slight glares on their faces.

"What?" she asked.

The door whipped open, revealing Benji returning from the hallway. "Phew!" Benji said with a slight chuckle as he walked over to the group. "That was not easy, but, I did it," he let out a sigh of relief, and glanced between Carolyn, Ethan, Jane, and Brandt. "What'd I miss?"

Ethan looked at Carolyn and then at Benji with a slight glare as if to say… _really_?

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: I couldn't wait to write this, lol. Hope you liked it!**


	10. Double Trouble

**A/n: First and foremost, I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of my reader's support for this story! Thank you for favoriting, following, and reviewing! I love you all cool people! Here's another chapter! It's a long one, but a very good one :) More Brandt/Carolyn in the future, I promise! I'm also taking a lot of creative license here. I'm not sure how much IMF's technology costs, so just guessing :)**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I'm writing for fun, and not for profit!**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 10: Double Trouble**

Yellow and dusty black sand clouds edged closer to the city of Dubai in Carolyn's eyes as glanced outside the window. She was careful not to step too close to the open panel just so she could see the outside. It was almost noon time. The sunlight slowly diminished through the clouds and poured down on Dubai and illuminated Carolyn's curious features on her face. Dubai just looked so peaceful, and mysterious. It was a shame she couldn't really stay long to visit and sight-see. She'll just have to add it onto her bucket list, she thought with a smile. She listened to the soft voices coming from Jane and Brandt beside her in the living space, interested in the latest technology IMF had in store for their Chief Analyst, not that she understood any of it, but it was still cool to witness.

"The lens might be a little uncomfortable," Jane said as she stepped back from Brandt. "It captures images and transmits them into the brief case. Alright?" She stepped back, taking her hands away from behind Brandt's head, so he could adjust to the new foreign object inside of his left eye.

"Ah," he groaned, blinking his eyes, and trying to get used to it. He may have nodded, but the lens still itched its way inside to adjust inside his eyelids. Jane waited for confirmation out of him. "Mhmm," Brandt nodded. "Can't see out of one eye, but I think I'll be fine."

Jane reached for the test copy inside the brief case, lying on the coffee table. She held it up in front of him. "Blink twice to activate the shutter," Jane instructed. "Notice the numbers are in order."

With a sigh, he blinked twice, and a new copy emerged from the printer inside the second brief case.

"A perfect copy," Jane said, eyeing the two different copies. She twisted her lips with a small frown at the second piece of paper. Brandt stood behind her to check it out. "But the numbers are scrambled."

Carolyn glanced over her shoulder to see it appear in the brief case. "That must've cost a fortune," Carolyn muttered.

Jane smiled, looking up at her as she placed the two papers back on the table. "There about fifty-thousand dollars in Euros, each. This is state of the art technology, sister; only IMF provides the best," she said.

"Oh," Carolyn said and looked at Brandt cheekily. "In other words, don't break it, cause you know, it's expensive. And I doubt any of us have the money to pay IMF back. Although...IMF technically doesn't exist so...you could get away with it."

"Ha, _ha_ ," Brandt said dryly, smiling slightly at her through his eyelashes.

Jane walked over to the dining room table to grab her blue jacket, while Brandt attempted to tighten his cuffs.

Carolyn caught herself studying his interesting mannerisms as he appeared to have a bit of trouble with his cuffs. She couldn't help but watch in pure amusement with his struggle he went through. It was more than likely he couldn't find the hole due to unable to see very well with the lens.

"Here. May I?" Carolyn said, taking the end of the cuff in her hand. The fabric felt stiff and soft in her hands like a mixture between polyester and cotton.

Brandt looked up at her, and saw the kindness in her eyes had returned. He nodded, allowing her to help button the cuffs.

"Masks?" Ethan asked Benji as he tightened the clasp of his watch on his wrist.

"Uh, sixty-seconds," Benji replied. "Are you sure I shouldn't wear a mask? Cause you know, I'm not exactly Omar Sharriff." Ethan gave him a look and Benji got the message. "I'll play it French," Benji handed Ethan the phone and a piece of paper with a paper clip attached to the top corner. "This is your tracking device. This is what you're tracking."

"Paper clip?" Ethan said.

"No, it's the paper," Benji said. "it's in the brief case. It's coated with isotope…it just means that you can track the documents even if they switch brief cases."

She smoothed out his sleeves, trying to make them look unwrinkled, and stepped back to look at her handy work. Brandt rubbed his eye, trying to find some relief from the itchy lens. "Don't suppose you have saline on you?"

"That would be back at my hotel in Russia," Carolyn admitted ruefully. Then she looked at his chagrin on his face. "And you were totally joking…" she said, realization dawned on her face.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Range?" Ethan asked, catching their attention. Carolyn and Brandt listened to Benji.

"Not that good. It's like half a mile. The safest thing to be do would not let Wistrom out of your sight…" Benji explained and then suddenly looked at his lap top. "Is that Wistrom?"

"Who is that with him?" Ethan picked up the laptop.

"I don't know," Benji shrugged. "We don't have an uplink, so there's no facial recognition."

Ethan brought the lap top over to Brandt, "Who's that with him?"

Brandt took one look at the laptop, watching Wistrom and his right hand man walk inside an elevator. He squinted at the computer screen, while Carolyn looked over his shoulder.

"That's Leonid Lysiker. Polish born cryptographer. He redesigned Russian's new security after the Cold War," Brandt explained.

"He's here to authenticate the launch codes," Jane said.

Carolyn's eyes stared at the lap top as the image switched to Wistrom and Lysiker. Yup, he was the same man she sat next to on the plane that was for sure.

Benji noticed Carolyn's stare had become worried, and so he took it away from her. He sat down at the table to keep an eye on Wistrom and Lyskier.

"If he is here that means we are blown," Brandt said to Ethan.

"No, we're not blown," Ethan shook his head.

Carolyn looked up at Ethan and saw that he was in thinking mode.

"Well, we will be as soon as he sees the counterfeit launch codes," Brandt said.

"We're not blown," Ethan shook his head.

"He's in the elevator," Benji announced.

"Delay them," Ethan ordered.

Benji quickly typed a few buttons on the computer and the elevator stopped at a different floor. Wistrom was about to get off of it until he realized it was not the right one. He got back inside and pressed the closed doors button again. Up they went on the elevator, getting closer to base room.

"Benji, how long would it take you to reprogram the case?" Ethan asked.

"Uh, a couple seconds. What for?" Benji asked.

"To make an _exact_ copy of launch codes," Ethan said.

"What?" Jane asked incredulously, hands on her hips.

"You can't do that," Brandt protested.

"Wistrom's on twenty-two!" Benji announced.

"Slow them down," Ethan said.

"I'll do what I can," Benji said nervously.

Brandt got up on his feet in alarm at Ethan's irrational with the switched plan. What the hell was he thinking?

"Wait, wait, Ethan hang on now, hang on, just a second! You're talking about handing over _active_ nuclear launch codes to Wistrom?" Brandt asked.

Carolyn was now sick to her stomach at Brandt's words that had stung in her ears. That didn't sound right at all. What was Ethan thinking? She looked over at the super-spy and gulped, not even wanting to look at Jane's facial expression.

"Stop, and listen, you're fixating, you're not thinking clearly," Brandt said and all of a sudden grabbed the case in his hands. He ran to the window and dangled the case outside. "It's not going to happen. I won't let it."

"Thirty-three and climbing," Benji said.

Carolyn gulped, blinking at the unfolding situation ahead of her. She sensed that everything was changing as she watched between Ethan and Brandt.

"Brandt, use your head. The mission's not the code, it's Hendricks," Ethan said.

"Then just let it play out," Brandt said. "Give them bad codes, neutralize him."

Carolyn bit her lower lip, brows creased along her forehead.

"You know that won't do it," Ethan said, which had surprised Carolyn. It wouldn't? These guys were actually smart and psychotic? "Failure to a terrorist is just a rehearsal for a success," Ethan explained.

"Thirty-one!" Benji panicked.

"We loose Hendricks today? He goes somewhere else tomorrow. He finds another way with no IMF to stop him. Now, it's now or never," Ethan said. "Now, Brandt, give me the case."

The nerves pricked along Carolyn's skin in slow motion, like a spider weaving a web.

Brandt backtracked closer to the open window, ready to drop the case. "Nothing can be left to chance, you _said_ that."

"You're the analyst! Now tell me there's not another way for Hendricks to get those codes," Ethan said, eyeing him carefully.

"Fifty!" Benji said.

"Tell me that this is the only way here, right now," Ethan said. "Today, you tell me that…I'll walk away."

Carolyn was about to open her mouth but the machine suddenly went haywire, causing the facial ink to sputter along the faces. Carolyn closed her mouth, feeling her heart beating rapidly against her chest. She flexed her fingers to calm her nerves down, while Jane went to check on the Mask Machine.

Jane shook her head at Ethan and Brandt.

"We go without," Ethan said.

"Without masks?" Benji asked worriedly, or sadly. It was hard to pinpoint in Carolyn's ears.

"Jane needs to go," Ethan said.

"Ethan!" Jane protested.

"We have no choice," Ethan said, turning his head toward her.

"Ethan," Jane stepped forward. "You'll be walking in on Moreau unarmed, face first _literally_."

"How do we know they've met?" Ethan said, looking back at her.

"How do we know they haven't?" Jane asked.

"It doesn't matter," Brandt said finally. "Damn it…" he looked over at Carolyn and then at Ethan. "We have no choice," he reluctantly handed Ethan the case back.

Ethan tossed the brief case to Benji and he quickly started to reprogram it. Jane grabbed the maroon leather duffle bag from the dining room table, and grabbed it tight in her hands. Once Benji finished reprogramming the case, Jane took it, and left the base room to double Sabine Moreau at the other end of the hallway.

"Do not let anyone in, but us," Ethan said. "If anything happens," he placed the walky-talky in Carolyn's hand.

She took a deep breath, and gave him an affirmative nod of understanding him. "Good luck," she said to him and Brandt as they left, leaving her alone with Benji.

"I thought _you_ were doubling Wistrom?" Carolyn frowned, slightly confused at the game-change up.

Benji gave her a small frown. "Afraid not love. It happens to the best of us on missions. Things change," he said, as he changed into his yellow costume, making him look like part of the wait staff at the Dubai hotel. "But, there'll be a next time."

Benji was quick to change in his costume and he went to grab the cart full of tea and deliciously warm pastries, waiting beside the wall.

"And besides," Benji said, fixing his fake arm with the spray paint wand in his hand. "It's kind of fun playing a French-man," he said, beaming.

Carolyn laughed lightly at his candid manner. She liked Benji. He made things a lot easier for her to handle this situation.

"Do you need some help or are you good?" Carolyn asked.

"I am good," Benji said, his face focused on the arm as he attached it onto his costume.

Carolyn played with the walky-talky in her hands, and she paced lightly back and forth around the coffee table.

Benji finished with his costume, and was about to go into position until he saw Carolyn just aimlessly wandering. He hesitated, contemplating on the idea of letting her watch the two different meetings happen in front of her eyes. Would that be too much for her? He didn't miss the worried look on her face when Ethan had decided to change this whole thing around on them, and face immediate danger, up front close and personal.

But what was worse? Not knowing what was going on or watching the scene before her and knowing what was going on? He bit his lip and looked over at her. She was going to tear the walky-talky antenna out of its socket and that was the only one they had. With a sigh, he walked over to his laptop, and hit a few buttons to the security cameras fixating on the two rooms.

"Here," he said, setting the lap top down on the coffee table. "You can watch, alright? I know you can't really do much of anything right now, but I promise. It's almost over. Ethan knows what he's doing. He's done this many times before."

Carolyn looked to Benji gratefully. "You're right," she smiled bashfully. "I'm just…being silly, and I need to calm down."

Benji nodded. "First time's always the hardest."

Carolyn gave him a grin. "Isn't this _your_ first time out on the field?"

Benji glanced around the room before he shushed her. "Shhh," he said, making her giggle. "Now. I have to go. So…" he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he saluted her and took off to go play the French waiter, Omar Sharriff.

Her eyes danced around the room in a complete semi-circle. She was now alone at base, and it was suddenly quiet.

Taking a deep inhale, she let it out as she sat down on the sofa to watch two different rooms on the computer screen. She leaned forward and turned on the volume all the way up. She placed the walky-talky in front of her, and turned on the radio.

 **Camera 1**

Ethan and Brandt walked inside Sabine Moreau's hotel room. Three men in black suits stood in a triangle, waiting for Ethan and Brandt. Moreau stayed inside the seating area.

"Which one of you is Wistrom?" Moreau asked.

 **Camera 2**

"Which one of you is Wistrom?" Jane asked.

Marious Wistrom walked forward to shake her hand. "I am," he said, emerging away from Leonid Lyskier. "I admire your work."

 **Base Room**

"Yeah, I bet you do, you psycho," Carolyn muttered sarcastically. She leaned forward and placed her elbows on her knees, folding her hands in a clasp, so she could rest her chin among them.

 **Camera 1**

Meanwhile, the three men searched high and low for any kind of suspicious items or weapons Ethan and Brandt may have. Moreau had made herself at home, sitting on the sofa, watching her two opponents very carefully. Brandt's arms were spread out, waiting as the henchmen finished their search.

The henchman with Ethan took out a pair of goggles in Ethan's pocket. He glanced at him curiously, taking them out slightly. Ethan shrugged innocently and the henchman put them back. He finally found a black cell phone, and handed it to Sabine Moreau. She took it in her hands, and inspected it before she motioned a quick nod to Ethan and Brandt.

"Sit," Moreau said, placing the phone on the glass table that separated her from the boys.

Ethan and Brandt sat down while the three henchmen stood on either side of the sitting area.

"Where are my codes?" Ethan asked, folding his hands on his lap.

"Where are my diamonds?" Moreau asked.

"Close by," Ethan said.

 **Camera 2**

"You have my payment?" Jane asked, sitting down in an armchair.

Wistrom sat across from her while Lysiker sat on the sofa.

"When I see the codes," Wistrom replied coldly.

There was a knock at the door that made Lysiker glance at Wistrom nervously. Wistrom was quick to stand up and draw something out of his pocket. Jane held up her hand. "Not to worry. Come in. I thought we could have tea."

Benji walked in with the tray full of pastries and tea, joining the meeting. He bowed his head a bit toward Jane. "Mademoiselle," he said, and turned toward Wistrom. "Monsieur."

 **Camera 1**

"No diamonds, no codes," Moreau said.

"No codes, no diamonds," Ethan challenged back.

"Kill this one," Moreau pointed at Brandt.

Brandt jumped startled, gripping onto the edges of the armchair.

"We didn't come alone," Ethan quipped.

Moreau held up her hand to one of her henchman to put his hand back by his side.

"That hallway out there is a kill box," Ethan said.

"You know who we work for," Brandt said.

"We come back with the codes, or we don't come back," Ethan explained.

"How good is your back up?" Moreau asked.

"The best," Brandt replied without missing a beat.

"Ooh," Moreau said with a sly smile across her face. She chuckled warmly. "I've _killed_ the best."

 **Base room**

Carolyn did not like the blonde assassin, not one bit, no matter how pretty she was. She looked on camera two, noticing Jane's faint pained expression as she listened in her ear-comm, waiting for the right moment.

Carolyn had been so focused on camera one that she missed Benji handing out tea to Lyskier, Wistrom, and Jane.

Carolyn frowned.

 **Camera 2**

"Would you care for some sugar?" Benji asked.

Wistrom held up his stiff hand.

" _Now, let's get this done,"_ Ethan's voice was over the Comms and walky-talky.

 **Camera 1**

"You want payment? I want guarantees," Ethan said. "Now, when he's authenticated the codes, I'll make the call, you'll get your diamonds."

Brandt took his thumb and rubbed underneath his eyelashes, moving the lens slightly over his eye.

"That, or," Ethan inhaled. "We all go home in buckets," he sighed. "Nobody leaves this hotel alive."

Brandt's mouth slightly twitched at Ethan's words as he stared at Moreau carefully.

Moreau straightened her back, and looked up at one of her henchmen, hands rested on her knees delicately. "Get the papers."

 **Camera 2**

Jane brought over the black case and placed it on the coffee table. Wistrom handed Jane a black velvet bag in which Jane eagerly snatched in her hand. Wistrom took the brief case and placed it against his lap.

Jane shook out the diamonds into the palm of her hand, sparkling to life. Inspecting the diamonds in her palm, she then placed them back inside the pouch.

"is there a problem?" she asked. She'd noticed that Wistrom couldn't open the case.

"It's locked," Wistrom said, annoyance dripping from his voice.

Jane stood and walked over to check the brief case. As she got Lysiker's attention, Benji placed a pastry plate down on the table, and quickly snatched the black pouch away from the table. He dropped the diamonds inside the sugar cup. In replace of the diamond pouch, he placed another pastry plate for Lysiker on the table next to Jane's. As he returned the empty black pouch on the table, his napkin dropped from his fake arm that he couldn't get to work, onto the table. He hid the napkin within his jacket and turned around to face the pastry cart.

Wistrom stood, back turned to Benji.

"Monsieur," Benji said, causing Wistrom to glance behind him as the waiter bowed to him and Lysiker before he left the room.

 **Camera 1**

Brandt checked the codes, taking his time. Moreau watched him carefully as he placed each paper on top of his lap.

Brandt cleared his throat slightly, and shifted in the armchair as if to mask his blinks. But suddenly Moreau tilted her head to the side, as if she'd caught him, but couldn't quite place it.

Ethan turned his head, watching her. Her blue eyes were fixated on Brandt.

 **Camera 2**

"My mistake," Jane returned back into the room, shaking her head. "It is the combination of the key," she said. She pushed her finger along the keys of the brief case, but suddenly Wistrom yanked it away from her.

"You tell me the numbers," Wistrom said.

"Ah," she sighed, as Wistrom sat back down in the chair. He was ready to listen for them.

 **Camera 1**

Brandt put the last set of codes down on his lap, and gave a nod to Ethan. "They're good."

 **Camera 2**

"Zero, zero, zero," Jane said, sitting down in her chair. She smiled as she watched Wistrom open the brief case.

The brief case opened and there they were. The authentic launch codes.

 **Camera 1**

Ethan picked up his phone off the table and contacted Benji.

 **Base Room**

Carolyn watched the split screens with intense eyes, and could only pray and hope this would work. Where was Benji? "Come on Benji," she whispered, and glanced at camera screen 2 where Lyskier was checking the codes.

 **Camera 2**

Jane took her tea cup to her lips, watching Lysiker breeze through the codes, making sure they were authentic.

 **Camera 1**

There was a knock at the door just as Ethan checked his watch.

One of the henchmen opened the door. Benji arrived with the diamonds for Moreau just in time.

The henchman walked over to Moreau with a teacup and saucer plate in his hands. He handed it to her and she took it with curiosity. She looked inside the golden rimmed and white ceramic tea cup. She poured the diamonds delicately into the palm of her hand.

She put the cup down on the table, and pinched one of the diamonds in between her fingers, inspecting the diamond sparkle within the light.

 **Camera 2**

Lysiker folded the papers together and looked over at Wistrom. He nodded.

Suddenly Wistrom snatched the papers away and tightened them up. He put them back into the brief case and locked it shut. Not wasting any time, he got up off the chair, and headed for the door. Lysiker glanced up at Wistrom nervously before he chased after him.

Jane had an odd look on her face as she watched him walk out the door. She placed her teacup on the saucer and walked around to try to stall him, "It was a pleasure doing business with you!" she called after him, but he was in a rush, and long gone.

"Wistrom has the launch codes," Jane informed the team. "He's on the move."

 **Base Room**

Carolyn heard Jane on the walky-talky, and thought occurred to her. Wasn't Ethan supposed to be tracking him? Was Ethan doing that now? Jane's room was on the same floor as Carolyn's. she could easily rush after him to try and stall him for Ethan.

She had an option. She could go after Wistrom and stall him. She thought that would be a big help.

Ethan had to track down Wistorm so Wistorm could lead them to Hendricks! Her mind raced at a panicked pace.

She was itching to follow him, or maybe she was just itching to get away from the intense moment she'd just witnessed. Whatever the case, she nervously made the rash decision to go after Wistrom and stall him outside the elevator. She didn't know how to stall him on the computers like Benji did; otherwise she'd have done it already.

She gathered up her bubbling courage, and pushed herself up off the sofa. She ran out the door and out the hallway, stopping in mid-run as she heard gunshots. Fear caught her throat, as she let out a small gasp. She winced, hoping Wistrom didn't hear her.

 _This was stupid_ , she thought. She shook her head. She was going to go back to base room, but then something inside of her bursted with bravery, or stupidity, this one she really couldn't decide for herself on her own stupid decisions, and decided to act casually.

"Oh, hold the elevator please," she said, rushing toward Wistrom, as he was about to duck inside.

Wistrom's shoulders slumped in defeat as this little one had decided to sneak by him. She slipped inside with him just in time to get on the elevator. She pressed a random floor button in hopes that would stall him just in time for Ethan to reach him. Together they stepped back into the middle of the elevator and Carolyn swallowed her nerves down as she just realized she was inside an elevator with a murderer.

She pulled out her platinum card out from behind her pocket, holding it in her hand, playing with it out of a nervous habit.

"Sorry, I kind of ran out of painkillers. I think the high elevation is getting to me, you know?" she asked, trying not to stutter over her words. "The gift shop is really handy to have around."

Wistrom didn't move a muscle, and his face looked like it was made of stone. Carolyn was waiting for the man to say something, anything, anything at all about their brief meeting on the plane to Moscow, but then again it was very brief so maybe he just didn't recognize her. Not everyone was observant like her. She forced a smile on her face when he looked at her with blank gray eyes that made her wonder how could anyone want to destroy the world they lived in? What had it done to Wistrom?

Not wanting for him to get suspicious, she looked at him again, and opened her mouth to speak, a little bit less timidly this time. "So, enjoying your stay?"

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n:** And I'm gunna end it there. Yikes! I know it was kind of rough to read, I'm sorry! It's a tough scene to write. Hope I did okay!


	11. Fight or Flight

**A/n: So this is my first attempt at writing a real fighting sequence in which everything happens so quickly! Brace yourselves. Thanks for sticking with me, and reading you guys! I really do appreciate it! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am not writing for profit, just for fun.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 11: Fight or Flight**

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," Moreau said. She was about to hand Brandt the papers, and Brandt was about to take them in his hands.

But she recognized the lens in his eye, and pulled them back away from him slowly when Brandt tried to grab the papers.

Ethan looked at her curiously at her odd observations toward Brandt.

" _Kill him!_ " she said.

Ethan suddenly kicked the table in the air, aiming at the henchman who tried to advance on Brandt. Ethan took on another opponent and threw a hefty punch at the henchman, causing him to fly to the ground.

The dark-haired henchman beside Brandt raised his gun at him, but Brandt was quick enough to release the barrel's lock so the bullet case dropped to the ground, making the gun empty. Brandt threw the case of bullets, hitting the third henchman in the nose before the third henchman could react to Brandt's effective fighting skills.

The henchman raised his gun at Brandt reached for his shoulder, but Brandt grabbed his hand away. With Brandt's free hand he used his elbow as if he was going to knock his opponent out, faking him out, which had caused the henchman to back away. Instead, Brandt reached behind the henchman's neck and shoved him down.

"Moreau's on the move," Ethan said, noticing their assassin escape with the diamonds and the papers.

The first henchman was about to get up, but Ethan tossed the table across his face again, knocking him back down on the floor.

"Got her," Jane said, taking off her jacket and shoes, ready to take action against the assassin.

Distracted by the henchman he'd thought he knocked out, Ethan whirled around and ducked as the henchman kicked him in the side of Ethan's stomach. "Jane, she's an asset! I need, her, alive!" Ethan threw a punch across the henchman's face, hopefully knocking him out effectively this time. He whirled around, holding onto his ear-comm. "Acknowledge! Acknowledge!"

Meanwhile Benji rushed to his laptop at base room, noticing that Carolyn was nowhere in sight. He tapped onto his screen and the screens flicked back to one full screen where he saw Wistrom and… he blinked…. Carolyn? What?

"Uh, Ethan, Wistrom is in the elevator," Benji said through the walky-talky. "So is Carolyn…I can't see Leonid though."

"What?" Ethan asked. "What the hell is she doing in there?" Ethan round-house kicked the henchman down on the ground, fists raised in the air. He pressed his finger to his ear.

"I don't know, flirting?" Benji asked, putting the walky-talky antenna in his mouth so he had two hands to work with on his lap top.

"Benji," Ethan said over the ear-comm. "Slow 'em down, get me an elevator." Ethan reached for the phone on the ground.

"Come on…look up at the security cameras, Carolyn…" Benji sing-songed as he pressed a button on his lap top to slow down the elevator. "Right, not that she could because she's just a civilian, and doesn't know where they are."

The elevator slowed down. Carolyn looked up nervously at the blue numbers that read 101. Wistrom pressed the button again, already annoyed that Carolyn had pressed the wrong button before hand just to slow him down.

Inside the room where the meeting with Moreau took place, a henchman raised his leg to hit Brandt across the face, but Brandt was quick enough to grab his ankle and twist it backwards. The henchman shouted in pure agony, and tried so hard to fight against it to the best he could until Brandt finally punched him in the face, knocking him out completely.

Ethan stood there in shock, breathing heavily after the fight they'd endured, and glanced at the unconscious henchman on the floor. He looked up at Brandt with dark eyes. "Find Leonid."

Ethan ran out the door, leaving Brandt to sigh.

 **~*MI*~**

Benji was trying to stall Wistrom and Carolyn as much as he could. He looked at the screen on his laptop, where he monitored Wistrom and Carolyn. He saw the elevator doors opened on a different floor. Wistrom stepped out and looked around. He looked back at Carolyn through his sunglasses. She shrugged.

"Must be a faulty elevator," she said.

Wistrom stepped back inside the elevator and pressed the lobby button a couple more times. Carolyn cleared her throat, and looked up at the ceiling, sucking in her bottom lip.

She hoped Ethan and the others were alright, and she really hoped Ethan finally had a lock on Wistrom. If Benji was making the elevators slow down and not her this time that was a good sign then right?

"Benji, I got a lock on Wistrom," Ethan said through the ear-comm trying to reach his technician. "But I can't tell…are they still in the elevator?"

"Wistrom's…they're in the elevator," Benji's voice was fizzing in and out.

"Benji," Ethan said, glancing upwards. "Benji?"

"Ethan, over?" Benji said through the walky-talky. "Ethan?"

"Benji, I lost you," Ethan said, trying to shake the static away.

Ethan looked up at the security camera in his own elevator, trying to get Benji's attention.

"Ethan, can you hear me?" Benji asked. "Ethan, can you hear me over?"

But Ethan shook his head.

Suddenly the door whipped open, revealing a very angry Sabine Moreau. Benji jumped up from his seat in shock. "Jesus!" he said, and saw that Jane was right behind her, shoving Moreau inside with a gun in her hand.

Jane marched Moreau right inside base room, shoving her all the way toward the sitting area.

"Sit down," Jane hissed, forcing Moreau in the armchair.

Jane gave Benji the gun. "Watch her," Jane said vehemently.

"Why…why me?" Benji stammered.

"Because if I do? I'll kill her," Jane said, walking into the bedroom with the bags she'd retrieved from Moreau.

Benji pointed the gun at Moreau's head.

Jane opened up the bag, and glanced inside. Anger couldn't even describe how Jane was feeling right now. She glanced up at the window and looked over at the door.

 **~*MI*~**

Downstairs in the lobby, Carolyn lost Wistrom out of her sight. There were too many people within the lobby, as she tried to follow him through the revolving glass doors.

She picked up her feet and ran as fast as she could to get close behind him, but was suddenly stopped. She tried to wretch out of his grip, but he only held her tighter.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Carolyn?" Ethan asked in her ear. She felt his breath hot on her neck, making her hairs stand up in panic mode.

"I…I want to help," she said, looking into his eyes as they searched for answers about her. But they couldn't focus because they were running out of time. "Look, he's only going to get away if we stay like this much longer."

Ethan grimaced. She had a point. He'd deal with her later. "Fine," he muttered and released her. "Go!" he said, pointing toward the escalators.

Carolyn broke into a run, just as Ethan got caught in the revolving doors. She made it to the escalator where Wistrom stood, holding onto the railing with his free hand. The brief case was in his other. She counted the steps ahead of her in her head. She was about five steps away from him. She could do this.

"Hold it, _missy_ ," Something hard and cold pressed against her back. She tried to step away, but the Russian officer grabbed her right arm.

 _Uh-oh._ She thought, feeling a dread of fear flood her face.

Wistrom was so close, yet so far away.

And where was Ethan? Was he behind her?

"I don't see your team leader," the Russian's voice against her skin made her shudder.

"I don't-" she said.

"Right behind you," Ethan said, sandwiching the Russian officer and his partner on the escalator between him and Carolyn. Ethan held onto the Russian officer's shoulder between his fingers in a grip-locked warning.

The Russian officer smiled. "Well, well, I was wondering when you'd join us," he said, yanking his shoulder out of Ethan's grip. "Did you really think I wouldn't catch up with you?"

"You and I are not enemies," Ethan said. "It was a set up…"

"You and your partner will find out soon enough. Move it," the Russian shoved the gun in Carolyn's back that had caused her to step forward, and nearly fall off her own step. She caught herself from falling, and focused on balancing on one foot, arms out as if she were on a trapeze. She looked up and lowered her arms slowly, calming herself down.

"You know, I really don't like it when guys touch me like _that_ ," Carolyn said through clench teeth. "It's a real turn off."

"So, I've read in your file," The Russian officer said in her ear.

"I'm sorry," she winced, and suddenly used her elbow to thrust it into the Russian's ribcage. He stumbled backwards and into Ethan, who grabbed him, whirled him around, steadying the officer on his feet. The Russian looked into Ethan's eyes with fear, and Ethan shrugged.

The Russian police officer's partner tried to reach for Carolyn, but she ducked sideways out of the way, backed into the railing of the escalator, and suddenly smacked him across the face with the butt of her hand. He stumbled off the escalator and she widened her eyes as her own shock and pain spread through her.

"Sorry about this," Ethan said, and punched him in the face.

Carolyn ran down the steps of the escalator as Ethan attacked the remaining Russian officer, finally smacking the Russian officer in the nose, breaking it, causing him to fall off the escalator.

Ethan ran down and followed Carolyn outside of the courtyard. She didn't know where to look for Wistrom, for he'd disappeared, and she was out of breath.

"Get back inside, tell the others to abort now," Ethan said, pointing back at the hotel.

"But Wistro-" she said, looking up at Ethan.

"Let me handle Wistrom," Ethan said, once he'd seen him out in the corner of his eyes. "Go!" he ordered, and ran after Wistrom, leaving Carolyn to sigh out of breath. She looked at her hands, shaking from the fight on the escalator, as the adrenaline inside of her slowed down.

"Owe," she mumbled to herself, feeling the pain start to take its hold on her as she trudged back inside the hotel.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Carolyn's got some mad skills...lol, not really. She definitely has something going on with her though. I'm kind of afraid to write Moreau and Jane's fight in the hotel room, so I'm leaving it there, for now. I'm sorry! I hope you liked it, even if it was kind of short, and bland!**


	12. Secrets

**A/n: New chapter. I did post this chapter this morning, but I edited it because it drove me crazy, and I want to try to get it right as I possibly can! Edited between the scene with Brandt and Ethan! It just happens so fast! Dang! :) Enjoy!**

 **Thank you so much to all my reviewers, followers, and favoriters! It means so much to me that you're reading my story, and I really do hope you like it so far! I love reading reviews best too. :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I'm only writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 12: Secrets**

"And what happened with Moreau, Jane?" Brandt said, leaning his hands against his chair, head down, staring at the table.

Benji had given Carolyn an ice pack from the first-aid kit, so she could use it for her sore elbow. She sat down next to the technician in silence, frozen, too scared to interrupt the fight that'd brewed between them since they left the Burj Hotel. It wasn't like she had a say in it anyway considering she was never part of the mission, although she'd gotten in the middle of it by accident. She cringed, and hoped they'd just forget about that bit and move on.

"She couldn't help us anymore, Brandt," Jane said, dabbing the wet wash cloth along her neck.

"Yeah, so let's throw her off the building," Brandt said with a nod of his head. "Let's _throw_ her off the building…"

"I didn't _throw_ her," Jane turned to face him.

Brandt kicked the side of his chair unable to control his fueling anger at how wrong the mission had ended up. It made Benji jump in his seat. Carolyn had jumped too, which made her glare at the analyst far too heated to care for his actions around his team.

"She was _not_ the mission Jane," Brandt said, walking over to Jane. "The _mission_ was to track the file back to Hendricks who is in the wind with nuclear launch codes!"

"Maybe you didn't notice the gun she had pointed at me," Jane said.

"Ha, ha," Brandt laughed humorlessly. "Like you didn't notice the open window, or that we're a mile in the air!" Brandt snapped.

"It was an instinctive move," Jane said, glaring at him.

"It doesn't matter, Jane! We're talking about a nuclear war here! The asset is more important than you!"

The words spewing out of Brandt's mouth stung in Carolyn's ears like she'd been hit a thousand times over with a ton of bricks. Right. Nuclear War. That's what the team was trying to prevent. That was the focus. That was the mission. And she was in the goddamn middle of it, all because someone had pointed her out to the Kremlin because it was apart of Russian's history. Carolyn liked history, and she wanted to know more culture even under the current circumstances she was in. She just never thought she'd ended up here, alone, and scared. She'd just thrown a Russian officer off a moving escalator. That wasn't good. She didn't mean to do it. It just happened out of the rush of chaos that had ensued between the Russian police, her, and Ethan. It was stupid. She was stupid for going after Wistrom.

"Do you think I need you to tell me how well I _executed_ it?" Jane asked. "You're nothing but an analyst."

"You didn't do your job!" Brandt said, yelling over her words, as their voices became muffled in Carolyn's ears. She'd tried to block them out, but it was no use.

"I didn't do _my_ job?" Jane chuckled humorlessly. "You think I need you to tell me what the mission is?"

"Well, we have no living assets, enlighten me," Brandt said with a wave of his hand.

"Well, maybe you need to learn how to do _your_ job! You were supposed to keep an eye on our FOC," Jane said, pointing to Carolyn. "How about _that_?"

"Please don't bring me into the middle of this," Carolyn muttered, cringing in her seat.

"Thought that was Benji's job," Brandt said.

Benji was about to open his mouth until Carolyn interjected for him, holding up her hand.

" _No one_ had to keep an eye on me," Carolyn snapped suddenly, glaring between Brandt and Jane. "I'm not twelve."

"Oh, yeah? Then why did you run out on us then?" Jane demanded.

Carolyn gazed into Jane's heated glare in the agent's dark eyes, and swallowed hard. "I thought I could help stall Wistrom."

"Well, a _fab_ job you did there, Carolyn!" Jane said, causing Carolyn to tense.

"She's not one of us, Jane, leave her out of it," Brandt said, taking a seat in his chair.

Jane glared at the analyst, "Well, she may as well be if she wants to play spy, Brandt."

"I just want to go home," Carolyn mumbled, resting the ice pack on the table. She was starting to feel numb from the ice and she wondered if it would fair better against her forehead to ease the headache that had been brewing since the fight between Jane and Brandt started about an hour ago? She'd lost count.

"There won't _be_ a home now," Jane snapped at her, snapping Carolyn out of her thoughts. "Now that we've lost Hendricks."

"Oh that's rich Jane," Brandt said, noticing the fleeting worried look across Carolyn's face. "Just freak her out even more."

"I'm not freaked out," Carolyn said a little bit louder than her usual timid voice. She was getting annoyed now at how they were treating her.

"Clearly not," Jane said, sending Carolyn an angry glare.

Carolyn winced again. She didn't want to talk at all about her recent run in with the Russian police. Nope. She didn't want to talk about it. She remained silent, hoping Jane wouldn't ask any further questions. Instead, Carolyn reached for her ice pack and held it up against her elbow as her answer to Jane.

"And how the hell did the Russians find us?" Jane asked, rounding on Benji's lap top. She snapped it shut.

"What are you asking me for?" Benji asked all of a sudden. He looked up from his laptop and at Jane's intense eyes.

"Because you're in charge of communications! You're in charge of covering our tracks," Jane said.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that I-" Benji tried to defend himself but Brandt cut in.

"You can't be making mistakes like that, Benji, you're not a technician anymore, you're a field agent," Brandt said.

"And you're just an analyst, right?" Ethan's voice echoed throughout the room, causing everyone to grow silent.

Brandt suddenly looked at Ethan, as Ethan advanced toward him. "Right?" Ethan demanded. He walked closer to Brandt as Brandt turned to face their fearless leader. "Who are you really, Brandt?" Ethan asked.

Jane, Benji, and Carolyn looked at him curiously.

"What are you asking?" Brandt asked with a shake of his head.

"What am I asking? Oh, let me see if I can put it in another way," Ethan said, turning slightly, and all of a sudden pointed his gun at Brandt.

Brandt quickly jumped out of his seat, and grabbed Ethan's gun out of Ethan's hands, causing it to fall on the floor. Ethan moved for Brandt's gun tucked behind his back pocket just as Brandt spun around, and pointed it at the analyst. Brandt snatched his gun away from Ethan's hands, and turned it around to point at Ethan's face.

The scene happened so fast, Carolyn barely had time to blink. Jane aimed her weapon at Brandt now that Brandt's weapon was pointed at Ethan's face.

Carolyn and Benji's mouths dropped in shock. They glanced at one another before turning back to the unfolding scene in front of their eyes.

"How does an agent with skills like _that_ end up an analyst?" Ethan asked.

Brandt released the gun's barrel out of its holster, and dropped it onto the ground, but holding the gun in his hand still. Jane lowered her weapon slowly as the threat decreased in the room. Bullets fell to the floor.

The sounds of the locals echoed in Carolyn's ears, reminded her that they weren't alone in the world as she watched with wide-eyes between Ethan and Brandt.

"Well, we all have our secrets, don't we Ethan?" Brandt said, handing Ethan the gun.

Ethan reached for the gun out of Brandt's hand, and stepped closer to him. "You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."

Carolyn's eyes were glued to the now silent Agent Brandt as he walked over to the wooden stairs, and slapped a hand against the side of the wooden staircase.

What was he hiding underneath that tough exterior? Was he like her? Did he put up a front for everyone else to see but himself?

Ethan looked over at Carolyn before he looked at his phone. He shoved his phone back in his pocket, and put the gun down on the table. He picked up a couple of items off the table, and placed them within his back pockets. "I have friends in the region, just sit tight. I'll send somebody to get you out of here."

What? Carolyn thought, taken aback. That's it? They were giving up?

"What about Hendrick's? What's the plan?" Jane asked.

"The plan was to stop him together," Ethan said.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Benji asked.

"Change the plan," Ethan said, walking toward the door.

"You can't just _leave_ me here," Carolyn yelled after him.

"Wait, what?" Jane asked as Ethan walked out, leaving them to question his motives. "That's it?"

"What are you going to do, go after him alone?" Benji asked.

"Would you care to explain yourself, Agent Brandt?" Jane demanded, as she watched Brandt walk over to pick up his jacket and bag. He winced and looked at her then at Carolyn and Benji.

"Where's the scotch?" Brandt said, dropping his stuff.

Jane nodded, and went in search to find some. Carolyn and Benji looked at each other in silence before Carolyn glanced curiously at Agent Brandt. She'd be lying to herself if she weren't interested in his sudden mad skills as an agent to IMF, but could she really stand to listen? Things were already intense.

"How's the elbow?" Brandt asked, catching her curious glances at him.

Carolyn bit her bottom lip, and looked down at the pink bruise on her elbow, frowning a bit. "Fine," she lied. It still hurt and she still felt stupid for going after Wistrom.

"Sorry you had to get in the middle of this," Brandt said softly.

Carolyn looked up from her elbow and gazed into his eyes as he leaned against the wooden beam that held up the staircase.

"I'm sorry too you know," Benji said, sneaking in a whisper to Carolyn. Carolyn just smiled, and looked back down at the table, unsure of what to say in such an awkward position she'd found herself in.

"I should probably leave, and um, get some fresh air or something, since I'm sure that head of yours is full of classified information that I'm not allowed to know," Carolyn said softly. She slid out of her seat and walked over toward the door until Brandt stopped her from walking out that door.

They stood in the middle of the room. Brandt blocked her way out, holding her small wrist in between his warm and calloused fingers.

"Brandt," she said, trying to shake the sudden and nervous tingles dancing along her arm off of her. "Let go, please."

He released her wrist, but still blocked her way out.

"Unfortunately, you're stuck with us," Brandt said. "I can't let you walk out of that door for any reason. Russians, remember?"

Carolyn sighed, glancing at him as he spoke again.

"You told me your side of the story," Brandt said as they stared into each other's eyes. "It's only fair I tell you mine."

Jane returned with glasses and a bottle of scotch, walking downstairs and into the living space.

Carolyn gave Brandt a small nod, and walked back over to the table. Jane was pouring glasses for all four of them. She handed Carolyn and Benji each a glass and left Brandt's beside the small table where he stood by the stairs.

Carolyn was definitely interested in knowing more about him, but she wasn't sure if she was even allowed to know. Although, seeing as how he wasn't letting her leave, she just sat back down in her chair.

Jane brought an extra chair over to the table, and sat down beside Carolyn, ready to listen to Brandt's story. "You're up, Agent Brandt," she said, raising her glass.

Brandt glanced at Jane, Benji, and Carolyn before he scratched the side of his head, wondering how he should tell them.

He drew in a deep breath and grabbed his drink off the table, swirling it around in his hand. "I was under a protection detail in Croatia, shadowing the assets of husband and wife. They were never supposed to know we were there. The whole thing was routine, milk run," he said softly. He took another gulp of his drink before he continued the story, "Three days in, we got word that a Serbian hit squad was after the couple; but my team had it under control, and knew they were coming. But I couldn't shake this feeling, that I should warn the couple some how. I wanted to find a way to let them know," he looked off into the distance for a brief moment. "But you know, orders are orders, so I didn't."

Carolyn watched with written curiosity in her eyes as he told the tale of Croatia, leaning her chin against the palms of her hands, her good elbow rested on the table, while the other rested on the melted ice pack.

He sighed, and turned around to lean his back against the pillar. "One day, the husband decides to leave the hotel, and go for a run, so I follow him, and I leave two men with the wife. When I get back? My guys are unconscious and the wife is gone. Local police found her body three days later…what was left of her anyway," Brandt said, and by that time Carolyn had brought her hand over her mouth. "That was my last day in the field. I couldn't face another life or death situation after that."

"So, what happened to the husband?" Jane asked softly.

"Never saw him again," Brandt said, glancing from Jane to Carolyn. Carolyn stared into his sorrowful eyes, feeling frozen in her seat. "Until two days ago in Moscow when the Secretary introduced me to Ethan Hunt."

"No," Benji said, mouth slightly ajar in shock. He looked at Jane and then at Brandt. "That's not what happened. She left him."

"Yeah," Brandt nodded. "I heard that one too, Benji. But, unfortunately, I was there. Just like I was there when the Secretary got the phone call that Ethan was in custody for killing six Serbian nationals in cold blood."

"An unsanctioned hit," Benji realized.

"Disavowed," Jane said.

Carolyn blinked at the words, settling uneasily in around the room. What had she gotten herself into?

Brandt brought his chair over to the table, and joined them. "Next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Dubai," he said, giving Carolyn a small glance when he said that, and she bit her bottom lip, while he continued, "Wondering the whole time, do I tell him?" He looked at Benji then at Jane. "How do I tell him?" His eyes locked on Carolyn's and held hers. "That I'm responsible? I could've warned him, I should have warned him," he said, looking down at the table. "But I didn't. And she died."

Carolyn gulped, swallowing in her tears. She felt the room spin around her as the story hung in the air. She could only imagine what he was going through right now and it broke her heart to the tenth degree. She wanted to reach out and hug him, and tell him it was okay, and he didn't have to bear such a burden like that alone, but at that moment silence hugged each and every one of them instead.

 **~*S*~**


	13. Confrontation

**A/n:** **Okay, so I want to say thank you to my readers, again! Thank you for reviewing, favoriting, and following, you guys rock! I appreciate you guys, so much! :) Thank you for sticking with me this long, if you're all still here! Here is another chapter! I'm sorry if I got the dialogue wrong, it was kind of hard to hear. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I'm writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 13: Confrontation**

Darkness surrounded Ethan until light suddenly flooded his eyes.

"Sergei!" Bogdon cried with happiness. Bogdon removed the black cowl on top of his head, giving Ethan some relief.

"Sergiei, my friend! I told you, I would get him here, didn't I say that?" Bogdon said as he pointed across the room toward the peculiar man with glasses perched on his nose.

Ethan looked up at Bogdon, shackled to his chair. "How do you know it's him?" Ethan said.

"Yes, it's him! You trust me, I trust you. Right?" Bogdon said as a matter of fact. Bogdon turned to the arms dealer. "This is the guy!" he pointed to Ethan excitedly. "This is the guy, the one I told you about! So, we can take these things off," Bogdon said, shaking Ethan's wrist along the metal arm of the chair.

The arms dealer remained coldly silent as he counted the diamonds in the palm of his hand.

"Sorry," Bogdon said, turning to Ethan. "He's a great guy, but he doesn't know you like I do…"

"So," the arms dealer said, cutting Bogdon off. "You work for American Government."

"And you're an arms dealer," Ethan said.

"No, no, no," Bogdon said nervously. "Sergei, Sergei, he's…Independent Defense Coordinator, right? That's right. Very classy job."

"Those diamonds are from Bogdon," Ethan said.

"No, no, it's okay," Bogdon said but the arms dealer cut him off again.

"Whatever arrangements you made with my cousin, is between you and him," The arms dealer said. "You want something from me? You pay."

"You misunderstand," Ethan shook his head. "I'm not buying. I'm selling."

"You're selling?" the arms dealer chuckled dryly. He poured the diamonds back into the black pouch in his hand. "Selling what?"

"The future," Ethan said with a smile on his face.

"Eh, I got all I need, thank you," the arms dealer said with a shrug.

Ethan glanced up and around the room. The afternoon sunlight poured in the dark room covered from head to toe with boxes.

"Our countries are on the brink of war," Ethan said.

"War is very good for business," the arms dealer said.

"Nuclear war?" Ethan asked. He wasn't giving up. He wasn't going to let the world fall apart no matter what. He didn't want to see Carolyn's pained look coming back empty handed. She'd trusted him this far, and he wasn't going to let her down. He could fix this. He was not giving up. It wasn't in his nature, no matter what the price. No matter what the circumstances were, he would save the world, his home.

"Go on," The arms dealer pushed himself off the bundle of boxes to look at Ethan with sparkling interest behind his glasses.

"I'm looking for a man named Kurt Hendricks," Ethan said. "You might know him as Cobalt. Either case, I think you know what he wants. I'll bet he even tried to buy it from you at some point."

"Go on," the arms dealer gave him the nod to continue.

"He has case, he has codes," Ethan said. "But they're worthless without a tactical satellite. I want to know where to get it."

"A man with information like that could be considered a potential terrorist. And to your government, a potential terrorist _is_ a terrorist," the arms dealer said.

Ethan closed his eyes, listening to his warning. He nodded. "If you help me," Ethan said. "My friends become your friends."

"Sorry, I cannot help you," the arms dealer said.

Ethan stared down at the floor, grimacing at those words he didn't want to hear. The arms dealer tossed the bag of diamonds to Bogdon.

"I certainly cannot tell you that Russia quieted this whole thing up so that the tactical satellite could lead him to a certain telecom in Mumbai," the arms dealer said.

"And whoever gave him that idea?" Ethan asked.

The arms dealer chuckled, "An enterprising third party," he said.

"Working on commission," Ethan said, knowingly with a nod of his head.

"Helping old friends," the arms dealer said, pointing to Ethan. "Making new ones."

"Can the satellite be shut down?" Ethan asked.

"That would take special skills," the arms dealer said. "And you cannot do it alone."

Ethan nodded, thinking back to his team, or what may be left of them. Jane, Brandt, and Benji. He needed them. His team could help him if they still wanted in, and he was betting that Carolyn, their FOC wanted to help too even if she weren't apart of IMF. She cared enough to want to pitch in and help them, which meant risking her life, and as far as Ethan was concerned that didn't make her an FOC anymore.

Plus, he'd already read a background check on her by the time they'd reached Dubai, and that made her a potential asset to the team, IMF or not.

 **~*MI*~**

Later that night, Carolyn went to bed with a full meal in her stomach, but she couldn't shake the current events that had unfolded within the last few days. She turned on her back, and laid there motionless, listening to the foreign sounds out her window, and the trains moving by every hour of the night.

" _We're talking about a nuclear war here, Jane!_ "

Brandt's words repeated in her head.

" _Well, maybe you need to learn how to do your job! You were supposed to keep an eye on the FOC!"_

Jane's words made her blink at the ceiling. She winced at her official nickname. FOC. Freaked-Out-Civilian. She didn't want to be an FOC anymore. She thought maybe if she stalled Wistrom, maybe that'd be enough to...She just shook her head. No. Maybe nothing would be enough to them. She still had a lot of questions about the IMF. It was interesting, and frightening at the same time.

" _What does disavowed mean?"_ She had asked Benji once Brandt left them be. He was in the shower while Benji and Carolyn had cleaned up the dishes. Jane was upstairs, hopefully trying to get a hold of Ethan.

" _Anyone who's either died on the mission, or gone off grid, they're considered disavowed. If they've managed an unsanctioned hit, aka not on record with the IMF, they end up lost in their field, unable to come up to the surface. IMF works underneath the radar to fight these very dangerous people, even if it is attached to our government,"_ Benji's words replayed in her mind the more she thought about the afternoon, and in the evening at a quiet dinner.

She turned in her small space of a bed that rested beside the wall, underneath the moonlit window. She tucked her hands underneath her pillow and blinked through the darkness inside the quiet room. She pulled the woolen blanket over her shoulders and let out an exhausted yawn.

 _Jane had returned to the kitchen, eyes glazed over with tiredness. She walked over to the sink where Carolyn had leaned against it, arms crossed over her chest. Jane showed her a picture of Hanaway on her phone with red letters across it: DISAVOWED. "That's what that means," she said._

Carolyn didn't miss Jane's tone of voice, slightly bitter mixed in with exhaustion. They were all tired. They'd endured a heavy feat back at the Burj Hotel. Ethan had risked his life, climbing a mile high window, nearly killing himself just to get inside the server room. Benji was knocked out by Moreau, and Jane fought to save her life. Carolyn wasn't one for taking sides. She never had been, but Moreau was a killer. Was it really that bad to rid the world one less of a killer?

" _She was not the mission!"_ That was what Brandt had said.

All of this was so confusing to Carolyn, making her mind run on a tangent. She found it very hard to get some sleep. She couldn't help but wonder if Ethan was okay, and wonder when he'd come back, or who he was going to send to bring them home.

She sighed at the thought of Ethan going out there alone. He had to have some plan. Spies always had a plan, at least that's what he'd told her before, and she chose to believe in that, and believe in him.

And why had Carolyn been so crazy stupid to go after a murderer?

That part annoyed her the most. It wasn't like her to go after crazy people. It wasn't like her to be in this kind of position. She was supposed to be avoiding stressful situations like this. She thought she could get a little r&r at the Kremlin, and learn about culture and history like she was supposed to. She bit her bottom lip, frowning. Not get caught in a nuclear war. That is what freaked her out.

She turned around and landed on her back again, shifting uneasily on the uncomfortable bed. She threw her legs over her bed and gripped onto the edge with her fingers. With her free hand she ran it over her face to get the over-tiredness out of her eyes.

She frowned. Maybe she just wanted to help because she felt useless. Then again, she's not an IMF agent, so there really wasn't much she could do. She just didn't want to be freaked out anymore.

With a deep sigh, she walked over to the restroom, and flicked the small light on. She looked at the cuts, and bruises fading away on her round face, and frowned. She could still remember the burning images of the Kremlin, and the sounds that had entered her ears. She could still remember the ill tastes she'd endured with the blast. She could remember people's screams, and Ethan crashing into her all of a sudden that had changed her dream world in a dramatic way.

Dreams were made, but they could be taken away in one single blast. And she was lucky to be alive. She shuddered at the terrifying thought. Whether Ethan knew it or not, the man had saved her life, and she wanted to repay him.

She walked over to the shower and pulled the curtain away, biting her lip. She turned the shower head on and let the water run through her hand, the same one she'd used to smack across the Russian's face, and accidentally knocked him over the escalator. She drew in a shaky breath. She hadn't meant to do that either, but in all honesty the man should not have grabbed her in such a rough manner like that. At least Brandt and Ethan didn't.

Once she felt the water lukewarm, she stripped out of her clothes, and hopped into the rusty shower, barefoot.

The water felt good rushing down on her body and soul, as it calmed her aches and fears, washing them away.

This couldn't be it. Carolyn thought sadly. They couldn't just give up like this. Maybe they did, but Ethan didn't. He was so strong, and brave, braver than she could ever hoped to be, a distant memory from another lifetime.

She hoped that Ethan was alright.

She was trying not to freak out that Ethan was out there alone, doing God knows what. He was probably trying to spare her anymore of the hardcore reality they lived in, but she didn't need to be spared. She knew. The situation was just…different. She just wished that there weren't people like Hendricks who wanted to destroy the world. But that was wishful thinking.

The water had helped calm down her nerves. Maybe the warm water could help her sleep.

She'd been so confident in Ethan all this time; she didn't want to falter that confident image he had put on for her.

" _I promise I'll get you out of this,"_ She had remembered those words. They were comforting to her ears, and warmth in her heart. It's all she needed to keep going.

Ethan was coming back. He had to.

He left her here with his team, people she hardly knew, but it'd been a couple days since she'd gotten to know Brandt, or Agent Brandt rather, Benji Dunn, former technician to the IMF, and first time field agent. And then there was the mysterious Agent Jane Carter, who'd just thrown someone off the building out of both protecting herself, and possibly more, Carolyn could see it in the agent's eyes. A lot could happen in a couple days, a few days, she'd realized.

Carolyn bit her bottom lip as she twisted the knob, turning the water off. She reached for her towel and wrapped it around her.

She dried herself off, and put on her clothes to keep warm from the cool nightly breeze that flooded into the small windows above her inside their safe house. She opened the bathroom door, and froze at the sound of a gun click.

She looked up and saw Brandt standing on top of the stairs with his gun drawn. She cringed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake anyone," she said quietly.

Brandt shook his head, and lowered his weapon. "No," he said with a deep sigh. His shoulders slumped, and he tucked his weapon back inside his back pocket as he walked down the wooden steps. "I was already up."

And then, there was Brandt. Agent. Skilled martial artist, and expert analyst, who probably already had her figured out.

Carolyn couldn't help but stare at his bare chest. Her eyes danced up upon his well-built physique, and felt her mouth grow slightly weak. _Stop it, Carolyn._ Her mind screamed at her. She turned around to face the mirror and started to towel-dry her hair.

Now wasn't exactly a good time to be thinking about such things like handsome men. Or was it the distraction she desperately needed right now? She chewed her bottom lip curiously, and turned to face the mirror again.

"See you've adapted," he said, crossing his arms, and leaning his broad shoulder against the threshold. He watched her towel-dry her hair as if it was nothing. She'd been so scared before, but now she seemed calmer.

"The four-shower heads were a bit much for my tastes," she said, looking in the mirror, anywhere other than Brandt. "Don't tell Benji," she said.

"Not a word," Brandt smiled.

She placed the towel along the hook adjacent to the wall beside the mirror.

"I am curious, though," Brandt said. "Why _did_ you run after Wistrom?"

"I _told_ you," she said. She reached for the comb; she'd brought with her in Moscow, and started to untangle the strands of her hair.

"Because I wanted to help is pretty vague," Brandt drawled slowly, watching her own delicate mannerisms as she detangled the matted hair into wet strands of wavy hair that cascaded around her shoulders.

"Benji wasn't at the computer to stall Wistrom, and that was the plan, right? Track the files back to Hendricks," she said.

"How'd you know Ethan would be able to track him in time?" Brandt asked.

"I believed in Ethan," Carolyn said with a careless shrug. After she combed out the strands of her hair she pressed her hair within her hands wringing the water out of her hair.

"How? How could you believe in him when you've only known him for thirty-six hours?" Brandt asked. He wanted to know how she could just put her own life and trust on the line with a complete stranger, strangers considering he'd just met her two days ago, too, and hardly knew what kind of person she was. All he knew about her was that was on "vacation", attempting to cool down after putting some guy in the hospital with a broken nose, and that she was allergic to almonds.

"Same as you," Carolyn said.

"Look," she said, looking down at the floor, avoiding his questionable eyes. She didn't like confrontation. "He got me out of that hospital, and got me away from being tortured for information. He got us out of that river in one piece, didn't he? I know you're still trying to figure him out, and why he'd do the things he'd do, but that's why he's the best," she said, which made Brandt quirk an eyebrow at her. "I heard the Secretary too, Agent Brandt," she said. "I tried not to listen, but I couldn't help it," she said with a sigh.

"He keeps you guessing, and that's what bugs you, right?" she asked as they stared at each other. "He saves lives without question. He cares about the world just as much as we do. He just had that confident presence and I guess…knowing that, helped put things in perspective, knowing he had a good team like Jane, and Benji, and you," she said. "Even if you don't realize it, I know you're a good person," she said.

"How?" Brandt asked in a low whisper. "I'm not even supposed to be here right now."

Carolyn smiled thoughtfully at his saddened and tired features on his round face and in his blue eyes. She could see dark circles underneath them. "I don't think any of us are supposed to be here right now," she said.

She walked out of the bathroom and into the living space. He turned around, leaning against the bathroom sink, and watch her spin around on her heel to face him. She had a point.

"I suppose me going after Wistrom was my own way of repaying the favor. I thought that maybe if I could help, we would be one step closer to Hendricks, and maybe I might have a chance to go home. I know. It was pretty stupid right? Any normal civilian wouldn't just go running after a complete murderous psycho," she said with a small shudder.

The corner of Brandt's lips lifted up in a small smile. "True," he said, tilting his head slightly as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Then again most civilians don't get in the middle of nuclear wars."

"No we don't," she said with a small frown. "Except I just happened to walk right into one. Huh," she said as an after thought. "I have the worst luck, don't I?"

"Or you were pointed in the right direction," Brandt said, pushing himself off the sink, and walked into the living space.

Carolyn looked at him, feeling all color drain from her face. "You think it was intentional?" she asked, barley a whisper.

"You were sitting next to the murderous psycho, after all," Brandt said, noticing her change in expression as her brows became furrowed. "That's how these men think, Carolyn. They don't care who gets in the way, so long as they can kill 'em and make 'em disappear. They know how to cover their tracks well."

She bit her bottom lip, for a brief moment, allowing silence to break in between them.

Yes, she was well aware of the bad guys that tried to take over the world. That happened every day, but she also knew there were guys like Ethan, Benji, Jane, and Brandt trying to save it.

"There may be bad guys in the world, Agent Brandt, but there are good men out there too, and I'm looking at one right now," she said finally.

"You can't just-"

"There you are," Jane said, cutting Brandt off with a detested sigh that had made Brandt and Carolyn look up at her on top of the staircase.

Carolyn's cheeks turned pink and she walked around Brandt, and sat back down in her bed, while Jane turned the lights on. Benji was right behind her with his laptop in his hands. "Just got a call from Ethan, we're meeting him at the airstrip tomorrow morning, six a.m. sharp."

 **~*MI*~**

It was finally morning, and they drove to the airstrip in silence. Carolyn still mulled over the fact she was supposed to be a potential casualty, at least that's what they'd come up with anyhow, who knows really? It was a mystery, Carolyn wasn't even sure she wanted to know, and she liked mysteries, but did she really want to find out the tales about her supposed death? She shuddered, and hugged her bag against her chin. She looked out the window.

The jeep pulled around to the airstrip where a white jet waited for them. Ethan walked down the steps, watching his team arrive through his dark sunglasses. Benji, Brandt, Jane, and Carolyn piled out of the car with their bags in their hands, and met with Ethan.

Carolyn looked up at the jet in awe and then over at the array of bags, waiting for them to be opened. Fancy equipment, and new technology, she suspected.

She seriously hoped this jet was her ticket home. As much as she wanted to help, she had enough of the spy-world, and was on her last nerve. She'd probably just make things worse or complicate things. Maybe all she had to say to Ethan was thank you. She wasn't a super spy agent like he was.

"What's in the bags?" Benji asked.

"It's our gear," Ethan replied.

"How'd you get it?" Jane said.

"Made a friend," Ethan said cryptically.

"Well," Benji said. "I'm glad we can help."

"You can help now," Ethan said, and looked over at Carolyn. "And be on your way home."

Carolyn's heart swooned at those words out of his mouth. She could hug him at that moment, but it didn't seem right. She eyed him carefully, but couldn't read his eyes because they were blocked by sunglasses. _Figures_ , she thought.

"Look, Ethan, before we..." Brandt began, taking his sunglasses off.

"Whatever happened, happened," Ethan said. "We still have a chance to stop it and we can do it together."

Jane, Benji, and Brandt looked at each other curiously. Carolyn ran a hand behind her neck, looking at Ethan. Ethan smiled at her, which made her furrow her brows. He was up to something. What was he up to?

"Okay, so," Brandt said. "Where are we going?"

"India," Ethan smiled.

"India?" Brandt said, glancing at Jane, Benji, and Carolyn.

"India?" Carolyn asked. "India's a long way to make a pit stop, Ethan. I'm sure I can find my own way back home?"

Ethan chuckled. "We'll get you home soon enough."

"Right," Carolyn sighed.

"Sure," Benji shrugged.

"Okay, great," Brandt said, as they got onto the jet.

"Love the jet," Benji said to Ethan.

"What till you see the car," Ethan smiled after Benji. Carolyn started to walk up the jet's steps, but Ethan pulled her gently aside before she got in. "I have a bag for you too, Miss gymnast."

" _Ballerina_ ," she found herself automatically correcting him as though she'd done it a hundred times in the past, but then looked at Ethan who was smiling at her mysteriously. She glared at him. "That was _years_ ago. How'd you know?"

"It's not hard to figure out once you've tried to balance yourself on a side building of a hospital's ledge, or a side-walk beam, or a moving escalator without falling face first. Let me guess, you couldn't decide which profession you liked better. Ballerina or a gymnast. You liked both, and you were good at both, but you couldn't choose because you were afraid. You were afraid of being judged, so you wasted it all, slaving away as a cocktail waitress downtown Seattle. History and culture were just hobbies of yours, so you used that as your cover story," Ethan said in a low whisper, as his teammates talked in awe of the jet's sleek interior.

Carolyn swallowed hard at his words riding inside her. Did that mean Ethan knew what she did to that guy also? He didn't say, and that made her wonder what he really knew about her. She looked up at him with sad eyes at the bitter remembrance of her past she'd worked so hard to bury. There was a lot more to it than he really knew, but he'd hit her with the truth pretty damn close.

"Yeah," she said softly. "I guess this means you want me to help, too, huh?"

"If you're still up for risking your life," Ethan said, eyeing her up and down, looking at her small frame. "You're like 5'2' right?"

She bit her bottom lip, looking down at herself before she looked back at him curiously. "Yeah, why?" she asked.

"No reason," Ethan quipped with a mere shrug. "Just making sure I picked the right people for the job."

She scratched her head. "Wait, Ethan, I don't think you understand what I can do…Ethan…" she jogged up the steps after him.

 **~*S*~**


	14. Jet planes & Scones

**A/n: Here's the newest chapter! I know I must sound like a broken record, but I honestly do thank each and every one of you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following because it seriously means the world to me! You guys are totally awesome! Again, I apologize for getting the dialogue wrong; some of it is hard to hear even with the volume turned up. Enjoy! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. I am writing for fun, not for profit!**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 14: Jet Planes and Scones**

Sidorov glared outside the window that overlooked Dubai. The sun was setting, forming a golden hue around the city's skylines while the doctor dabbed a cotton ball with alcohol to diffuse infection with his latest cuts and bruises no thanks to his targets. His cell phone startled him out of his thoughts of previous events. He was close, so damn close. He almost caught Carolyn Mason and Ethan Hunt. His fingers furiously found their way into his jacket's pocket and pressed _send_.

"Sidorov," he answered, holding his cell phone to his ear. The doctor continued to clean his wounds.

" _How have you been old friend?_ "

"Ah, it's you," Sidorov said, switching ears. "I've been busy with other things." He patted away the doctor's hand, holding the cotton ball in between tweezers. The doctor just shook his head, and waited patiently for Sidorov to finish. "But, I'll be after you again soon enough."

The arms dealer chuckled. " _I understand you are looking for a couple of Americans…"_

Sidorov raised his eyes in alarm. "I am."

" _You're also looking for a nuclear launch device stolen from the Kremlin two days ago_ ," the arms dealer continued.

Sidorov listened to the arms dealer. " _I am,"_ he said.

" _I can help you find both,"_ the arms dealer said, leaning against his weapon in his safe house. " _If…we can come to an understanding."_

Sidorov's eyes suddenly glistened with hope. Well, _this_ was an interesting turn of events.

 **~*MI*~**

"Bridge Nath, who is not on Carolyn's favorite list apparently," Jane said, swiping her finger along the tablet in her hands.

Ethan let out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah, she's not fond of his crowd."

Jane grinned slightly. "Then we have something in common," she said as her eyes memorized the photo of a millionaire who looked skittish like he was up to no good.

"Bridge Nath," Ethan said. "Playboy, multi-media tycoon, on the surface, his entire network is state of the art. But it's built on illegally acquired Cold War cast-offs, including this," Ethan swiped the picture to a satellite photo. A devoce satellite. Hendricks needs it to launch a nuclear strike and we have to shut it down before he get's that chance."

"And to do that, we need to get the access codes from him," Jane said.

"One way, or another," Ethan agreed.

"And if I don't," Jane sighed. "None of this works."

Ethan looked at her with determination and encouragement mixed within his eyes. He believed in her, and she hadn't let him down yet. Despite loosing Moreau as an asset, Jane was still a tough agent and could get the job done. He needed her to focus right now. "You can do this," Ethan said.

"Yeah, a week ago I would've believed you," Jane said softly.

Ethan eyed the profile side of her face, and could feel the pain still circling around her. He turned slightly and looked down.

"I don't blame you for what happened," Ethan said.

Jane tensed slightly at those words, and tried to listen to him. He didn't?

"She took someone you cared about, that's not something you just…let go," Ethan said, swallowing hard.

"Did it make you feel better when you killed the men who killed your wife?" Jane said.

"We can't get them back," Ethan whispered finally.

 **~*MI*~**

Benji's rover rowed the silver suit across the jet's floor next to their table. Brandt watched it hover in slight awe. It was seriously pretty cool, but there were just a couple of things he wasn't quite sure he felt right about doing.

"Okay, so to shut down the satellite we have to manually tap into the server," Benji explained. "Now, you and Carolyn will enter the exhaust vent, wearing this," Benji pointed to the hovering silver suit beside them. "Under your suit, uh, drop down into the computer array, I'll catch you two, then move you and Carolyn along the relay room, and Carolyn jack's into the power."

The silver suit dropped to the floor with a sudden clank to the ground. Benji closed his controller device for the gravitational suit, and put it to the side of his laptop.

Brandt watched the suit fall to the ground in a quick swift moment. He leaned his arms across the table, and shifted uneasily in his seat.

"Why can she come with me again?" Brandt asked, clearly not okay with the idea that he was going to be carrying Carolyn through the computer array room.

"Ethan said she could," Benji said, and continued to work on his laptop, avoiding the analyst's gaze.

Right. He leaned the side of his head against his closed fist, glancing down at Ethan's notes he'd given to the team, spread out across the table.

"Okay, so we enter the party separately as guests, Ethan quarter-backs, while Jane gets the codes from the…bill..." Brandt stalled, as Benji nodded his head along as if he'd heard it a billion times before.

"Billionaire, I switch off the fan," Benji said over Brandt's voice. "You and Carolyn jump into the computer array, I catch you two, she switches out the disks, and you plug the codes in the transmitter," Benji said and Brandt held his finger up at the technician trying to get his attention but Benji continued anyway. "Then Ethan feeds me the codes, which I then use to pin point Hendricks' location."

"Okay," Brandt nodded and swirled his finger around in the air, completely flustered at the idea that he was going to be jumping into an array room along with their FOC, of whom seemed totally fine with when they discussed it at dinner, by the way. That surprised Brandt she would be so eager to jump into the mission with them when she had no formal training at all. The only type of training that was suggested at dinner was the fact she did a couple of balancing acts when she was growing up. She didn't seem like she wanted to talk about it, so no one asked any questions. A thoughtful smile had graced Brandt's features, as he'd started to wonder what she was like as a younger kid, performing in front of a hundred people and dressed in a sparkly leotard with her hair and make up done. A normal girl in a normal world, without a care in the world that there were evil men like Hendricks trying to destroy one's dream as a gymnast or ballerina, she didn't really say which one. It was just briefed over too quickly for him to find out more about it. One's dream? Brandt shook his head. People have dreams too. Hendricks wants to build monuments after him when he's finished...the psycho indeed.

And Brandt was totally not cool with this plan of theirs. He didn't know if he had the strength to go through the array room, _and_ make sure Carolyn stayed alive. Well, he probably could, but the jumping in part freaked him out a bit.

"Uh, you breezed over something really important," Brandt said nervously. "The computer array part…where I just jump…carrying a 120 pound girl no less," Brandt said.

"And I catch you guys," Benji said with an affirmative nod.

"Yeah," Brandt said.

"I don't…why is that so hard to grasp?" Benji shrugged questionably.

"Well, why?" Brandt asked outrageously. Did he seriously not see the complications here? "It's…it's a twenty-five foot drop. And we're using magnets."

Benji chuckled and nodded. "Yeah."

"In light of our recent efforts, uh," Brandt said with a nod of his head. "The technology is…"

"The science is _sound_ , alright?" Benji reassured. "Honestly, I'd be more worried about the _heat_."

"And then there's _that_ ," Brandt said, glaring at the technician. "What _heat_?"

"Well, it's like any computer isn't it?" Benji said with a casual wave of his hand. "If you switch off the fan, it's going to get _really_ hot," he chuckled.

"Of course," Brandt chuckled dryly.

"Relatively," Benji winced a bit. He was pretty sure it would work, and he already knew that Brandt had the skill to get them there.

"Of course it will," Brandt scratched behind his ear, trying to shake the nerves out of his system at the death-defying mission looming ahead. "So, I'm jumping, jumping into a…ah…an oven essentially," he tapped the table with his clawed like hand, as if he was demonstrating it out what he was going to do.

"Yeah, essentially," Benji said a bit nervously as the analyst slowly made him question the sounding plan that seemed so gumshoe. "But um, I'll catch you, and Carolyn." He gave Brandt an encouraging smile.

"Great," Brandt said. "And she's coming with me because…"

"Because Ethan said so," Benji said with an annoyed sigh.

Brandt blinked at him. Why was he being skittish all of a sudden? Brandt was about to ask him another question until Carolyn suddenly announced her presence, even if Brandt had heard her clattering plates and mugs, balancing them on one arm, while she held the two mugs of coffee and tea in her hands. She meandered her way around the rover, slightly stepping on the suit. She cringed and muttered a quiet oops to herself that sort of made Brandt smile.

"Okay," Carolyn said as she balanced two plates of blueberry scones on her left arm along with Brandt, and Benji's tea and coffee in her hands, hooked under her thumbs. "We have Agent Brandt's coffee, black, no cream, no sugar, and Agent Dunn's royal black tea with a smidge of honey. Plus two blueberry scones each, peanut allergy free," she said, proud of herself that she'd made it all the way to the back of the jet without spilling. When you work as a cocktail waitress for a long time like Carolyn has, you start to develop good habits, and learn from your mistakes as you go along, trying to get by in life. She'd tried so hard to form a quiet life. After that rich asshole turned it around, she was forced to take a vacation to Moscow, Russia. It didn't exactly end well like she'd planned. Then again did anything go well with plans and goals in life? Carolyn's certainly hasn't.

Brandt looked up at Carolyn, as his index finger rested along his temple. She smiled at him, and he looked over at the coffee cup, and scones in the middle of the table. She was even careful not to spill on any of Bridge Nath's mansion's floor prints.

"How long have you been a waitress," Brandt asked.

Carolyn looked up at the ceiling as if she was trying to recall her second job interview at the cocktail lounge where she worked, or used to work. She wasn't really sure what was going to happen when she returned home. "Hmm, too long," she replied.

"Well, I thank you for your service, my dear," Benji said with a small bow of his head. He took his tea and brought it closer to him. He started to squeeze out the honey from the small packet Carolyn left on the plate for him. She watched in mild interest at the former technician's candid ways.

She smiled. "You're welcome, Benji," she said.

"So," Brandt looked back up at her. "You're just okay with you and me, jumping into a twenty-five foot drop into a computer room?"

Carolyn leaned against Benji's chair and nodded. "Mhmm," she said.

"You realize that I'm going to be wearing the suit, holding us afloat together in an incredibly hot computer room, no harness or anything like that...?" Brandt said, eyeing her curiously. What had made her brave all of a sudden? Or was she just putting on a brave face? She was so animated before, and now she was peculiarly mysterious. Or maybe he was just really tired and imagining things. All he could notice right now was that she was relatively calm, and complacent. She was in clean clothes that actually fit her. Earth tones suited her best with her fair complexion under the dim lights of the jet plane. She was able to wear make up again, and cover the scars on her face. The make-up blended in so well, he could hardly notice they were there. The cut on her lip was still visible underneath the shiny lip gloss. He could tell that wearing make up wasn't her forte because there was still a bit of smudgy mascara and eye liner on the side of her eyes. In all honesty, he liked her without make-up. Without make-up made her seem real.

She bit her bottom lip at him curiously. _Why was he freaking out now? Well, we can't have that now can we?_ Agent Brandt had skills, and she wasn't afraid with him or the team. She believed in them. She smiled bravely. "Yes, I realize that, which is why I can go because I can balance myself on top of you." she cringed, turning deep red no less, at how that sounded. She scratched the back of her head and looked elsewhere around the jet, searching for something to stare at but all she found herself staring at were the blueberry scones on the table. "And switch out the codes."

"Disks," Benji corrected for her.

"Right, disks," she said, sucking in a breath to keep her nerves down at bay where they should belong. _Thank you Benji_ , she thought.

He liked the straight hair too she was able to straighten, but he also liked the wavy curls that cascaded around her shoulders. She had softness to her that something inside of him was trying to grasp. It was like grasping straws though because the recent events were starting to gnaw on her skin, and he could already tell from the dark circles under her eyes she tried to conceal. This mission was taking its toll on her whether she'd admit it or not, but she was fighting so hard to stay brave, all because Ethan promised her a way out.

He wasn't sure he could make a promise like that to someone, not after his time in Croatia. And Ethan had truly brought her this far out on the mission. Brandt could never do that to someone. He'd try to find a way out for them…but there wasn't a way out for Carolyn, not yet anyway. That Russian officer had made her a potential asset. Brant knew she could never hold up in interrogation, she couldn't even fight her way out of his confrontation with her about why she'd chose to help the team, and why she chose to believe in Ethan. Then again, Brandt realized, Ethan was a walking mystery. No, she had to come along with them. He couldn't imagine what they would do to her under pressure. DNA is DNA, and DNA doesn't lie, no matter what a person said. Ethan knew that first hand. He had no choice, but to take her with him, but that didn't mean she had to get involved, and that bugged him. Why was she allowed to be apart of the mission all of a sudden? Did he and Carolyn have some sort of special bond or something now? Did she really want to risk her life just to say thank you to him, or was there something more to it? She could walk away at any point, and just stand-by, but Ethan didn't consider her a freaked-out-civilian, just someone with a good heart, or what's left of her good heart. He didn't think it was sound at the moment with what she's been through, even if she tried to keep her spirits up throughout all this.

He needed Ethan's new plan to work. They were all going to pitch in and stop a nuclear war from happening. Carolyn had blossomed with that confidence in her eyes at dinner as Ethan explained the plan.

He could probably understand she didn't like the cuts and slight bruises she now had to burden because of the Kremlin bombing, or the run in with her Russian pals. He didn't blame her on that if this was her way of trying to forget it, mask away her problems. Perhaps she was just trying to feel normal again.

Carolyn chewed her bottom lip, wanting to nod, but she caught him looking at her in a peculiar way, like he was studying her the same way he'd looked at her when they first met, except this time she saw no pity or sympathy in his deep gaze that she could feel. She saw something else, but she couldn't at all place it. She just nodded in silence, and looked at the small window that flanked between Brandt and Benji.

"Well," Benji said breaking the awkward silence. "It turns out that our daring FOC used to be a ballerina?"

Brandt's eyes flicked between Benji and Carolyn. He heard that part. Knew that part. Still didn't make it right for her to just jump in.

"Yep," she nodded. "Ballerina, gymnast, both took skill to learn how to balance. I had to balance on my tip-toes, and the balance beam. I think I can still do it too, as far as my memory servers."

Brandt chuckled nervously at her. "As far as your memory serves?"

"Well, it was a long time ago," she said with a shrug. "And besides, it's not like _I_ can wear the suit, I'll be wearing a dress that requires some extra skin attention."

"Right," Brandt said with a sigh and leaned forward toward Benji. "Why is she jumping in with me, again?"

"Honestly, I think I'm gunna have to hit my laptop in your head a couple times to make you understand this. Why is it so hard to grasp with you? Because the computer array slots are tiny, and she has tiny fingers, while you on the other hand, well," Benji said, taking a careful sip of his tea. He looked at Brandt's hands underneath his lashes.

Brandt frowned, glancing at his hands. "What's wrong with my hands?" Brandt asked.

"Um," Carolyn said, biting her lower lip, wondering how she should break it to him lightly. "They're a bit big for the server thingy," Carolyn said, and saw the change in Brandt's facial expression to a slightly wounded look by what she said. _Oops, can't have that can we?_ Carolyn winced, and quickly fought for the right words to say, anything to turn this around.

"Not that I mind a guy with big hands and all...soft hands...um...kind hands, you know not rough ones because you all know how I feel about rough handling, and, uh..." she said, stalling in realization at what she just said and cleared her throat, quickly looking at the blueberry scones instead of Brandt's gazing eyes on her. She felt her cheeks grow hot, and wished she could just shut up. _Pull it together, girl_! She thought.

Benji quirked an eyebrow, and tried not to smile, and chuckle at her flustered facial expression currently donned upon her face, as she tried to turn her stammering sentences around. He coughed out loud, taking a sip of his black tea.

She felt her heartbeat quicken against her chest. "Um, I mean, you know, it's a two person job. There's no way around it," she coughed, and smacked Benji on the shoulder, who'd jumped, startled out of his tea reverie. "Right, Benji?"

"Yeah, right," Benji said.

Brandt looked at her with a curious arched eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes at the analyst. "Besides, Ethan already said I could help, after he noticed my mad skills," she said, beaming brightly.

"Right," Brandt said with a slight chuckle, and a shake of his head. "Of course he did."

She sighed. "Look, I know I promised that I wouldn't compromise the mission, and I sort of did back in Dubai," she winced. "Think of this as me making it up for getting caught by the Russians, and nearly screwing up the whole mission."

"But it wasn't your fault," Brandt said, as his eyes danced across her face, searching for answers.

"It was all of our faults," Benji muttered under his breath, as he took a sip of his hot delicious tea, warming him to the core.

Carolyn glanced at Benji and frowned. She shook her head and walked away from the table, leaving Brandt and Benji in silence.

She walked back to the kitchen and closed the door slightly behind her. But just as she closed it, it whipped open so fast, she didn't have time to blink. Brandt stood in the middle of the doorway, and she felt the closeness swell around within her that made her a little claustrophobic all of a sudden. Weird, she thought, she'd never felt claustrophobic before.

"You don't have to do this," Brandt said in a low whisper. "We'll understand if you don't want to."

"But I _want_ to," she said, daring to look into those warm blue eyes that had caught her attention before. "I'm _going_ to whether you like it or not."

"Why?" Brandt sighed finally after a moment fleeted passed them.

"The fate of the world hangs in the balance," she replied. "This is our home, Brandt," she whispered. "I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find it in pieces. Earth is home to many people. It may be a dirty world, but the world always somehow…manages to repair itself from the grains of soil and the colors in the sky and the ocean's tears. I've always believed things happen for a reason, no matter how hard things get, I still like to wake up in this world, smiling because I've been able to pull myself together and start over. So I try to smile at other people, so that they can smile too, and hopefully have a better day. I know it isn't much because I know I'm not anything special. But this little bit of help, I'd feel like I'd actually done something right, and I can do it. Nuclear war? No one needs that added to their list of domestic problems, and I don't want it on mine either," she drew in a deep sigh, letting silence slip in between them. "I don't know how I know," she whispered, feeling his eyes burn into her skin. "I just...hope."

"Good enough?" she craned her neck to look up at him, and now she'd realized he was dangerously close, casting his gaze down at her. Or did the room cave in? Either way, she had to get out of there and out from underneath his intense gaze. She hoped she was seriously not putting her foot in her mouth, giving Brandt her own perspective and reprimand about her thoughts and beliefs, but she seriously hoped that'd be enough. And she seriously hoped that she _could_ do it. She tried to shovel that fear back down as it still lurked within the depths of her soul. She knew Brandt's abilities, but did she know hers? She blushed bright pink as she headed back to her space of the jet in silence. She was going to try anyway, and it's better to try than do nothing at all.

Brandt felt his jaw grow slack at that. Damn. She understood. And before he could even respond, she left him be in stunned silence. Not special? Did he seriously just hear her say that she didn't think she was special? _Well, we'll see about that now won't we?_ Brandt thought. He blinked at his current invading thoughts. Damn. When had he thought _she_ was special? Well, she was kind enough, and all, and slightly interesting. Even more interesting when she tried to go after Wistrom by herself. He shook his head. No. She was just a civilian...right? Right? He frowned a bit at his current stream of thoughts. _Yeah, we're gunna find out tomorrow in the relay room, in which he was still quite unprepared for._ He sighed, and walked back to the table where Benji was working on his lap top.

"My hands are not that big," Brandt muttered to himself. He glanced at the palms of his hands, feeling his ears turn slightly pink.

Benji chuckled at the analyst, as he took a sip of his tea.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: *Cringe* I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I hope you liked! :) "And I'll catch you!" Oh, Benji. I love him, lol. Reviews are LOVE, and I love every one of them! Thank you so much for reading!**


	15. Mumbai

**A/n: We're in India you guys! Just for reader clarification, so it's not confusing. When they talk with Italics that just means they're talking to each other through their ear-comms.** **Again, I'm so sorry if I got anything wrong (just because I'm not really all that familiar with the computer relay terminology and all that jazz). I tried my best with this one!**

 **And thank you so much to my readers, and to those of you who review my last chapter! Much love to you all! :)**

 **Enjoy!**

 **P.S. I did edit this chapter a lot. It was needed!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 15: Mumbai**

Ethan pulled the BMW vision car around the driveway that curved around a huge fountain, and parked it in front of the valet. Two glass doors opened up with just a touch of a button, and Ethan climbed out of the driver's seat.

As her door popped open from the side of the car, Jane turned to the side gently, waiting for Ethan to help her out of the car. He stepped beside her, and held her hand while she climbed out of the fancy silver and lit up blue BMW. Together they walked inside toward the party and stopped at the entrance.

Ethan's eyes lingered on Jane for a brief moment, taking in her beauty. With a wave of his hand, he allowed her to go first, and together they walked among Bridge Nath's finest guests in the region. They made their way around the lobby and found an empty spot beside one of the golden beams that held the high ceilings.

"Comm-check," Ethan said.

"Saturn's got you five-by-five, Jupiter," Brandt replied, striding by.

" _This is Pluto,"_ Benji said, climbing down the ladder and into the computer base room. " _I have arrived at the party."_

" _Earth, are you in_?" she heard Ethan's voice inside the alcove of her ear, and jumped a bit at his voice. " _Earth?"_

She pushed her ear-comm inside to keep it there and hoped it wouldn't fall out again because of her small ears.

"Y-yes, I'm in," she said out of breath, once she'd finally gotten the ear-comm to work like Benji had showed her before they entered the party. "Sorry. My ear-comm fell out. I have tiny ears," she said, feeling a twinge of embarrassment ride through her as she heard Benji chuckle over her ear-comm.

She was freshening up inside Bridge Nath's bathroom that was far too exquisite in her eyes as she glanced along the marble walls, and the golden outline of the mirror that stretched along the wall. She fixed her earrings, and finished fiddling with her ear-comm until she was satisfied at how it felt in the small alcove of her ear.

Carolyn's chocolate brown dress fit her body like a glove, and flared out around her knees. Little wisps of brown hair framed her round face, as her hair was curled up in a ballerina bun and twisted at the base of her neck.

With a final look of approval, she grabbed her golden clutch off the marble counter, and walked back out to the party that started to bloom to life as more guests arrived.

She'd walked down the large hallway, glancing around her as the room seemed to spin into an array of different colors. Many people were here tonight, enjoying themselves while they sat down and drank Nath's expensive champagne. It made her shudder that these people could just idly have a good time without the care of what Nath did to other people for a living.

Her eyes scanned the room for Ethan and Jane. She looked over beside the golden beam where Ethan and Jane were and smiled. Ethan looked good in a black and white tux with his dark hair combed back, and Jane looked beautiful in her torques floor length gown that fit all the right curves of her well-toned, well-trained physique.

"Ready when you are," Carolyn said in a low whisper in her ear-comm.

Brandt suddenly appeared beside her, and offered the hook of his arm toward her. She was caught off-guard by the unexpected smell of his mixture of spices like vanilla and cinnamon cologne mixed in together with just a touch of sandalwood that flared up in her nostrils, making her feel a little dizzy with unexplainable feelings she'd felt the night before. She blushed a deep red, and took his arm within her delicate hands, and headed toward the kitchen where the computer array room was located twenty-five feet down below.

A waiter came by with a tray full of sparkling wine in tall champagne flutes, and Carolyn grabbed one off the tray, and downed golden liquid into her system, desperately wanting to hide the butterflies threatening to come up.

" _There he is,"_ Jane said over the ear-comm.

" _Get us, that code,"_ Ethan's voice made her jump, still not used to hearing voices in her head.

Brandt grinned subtly at her flustered look, as they continued to walk inside the bustling kitchen with Nath's staff as they paid no mind to the couple's entrance.

" _Venus moving in target_ ," Ethan announced. " _Hook's in, you do make an impression."_

Inside the ground basement next to the computer array room, Benji turned on the rover, and it roared to life, lights lighting up the tiny rover. He pulled up the brief case and sat on top of the edge, using it as a chair. He went back to his laptop and rolled his eyes, listening to Ethan's quarter-back.

" _Why am I Pluto, it's not even a planet anymore_?" Benji asked.

By this point, Brandt and Carolyn had found their way into the kitchen's storage room, and quickly jogged down the steps, passing by cake tiers covered in plastic and racks of glasses stacked against one another against the wall.

"Well, I think Uranus is available," Brandt teased, glancing at Carolyn behind him just to make sure she kept up.

She smiled widely as he pushed the door that lead them further down to the computer array room.

Benji chuckled sarcastically on the other end of her ear-comm. " _That's funny because you said anus_."

"Well, you know what they say," Carolyn said candidly. "Men are from mars, and women are from Venus."

" _I think she just owned all three of you_ ," Jane said, standing beside the bar as Bridge Nath slowly approached her, his dark eyes glazed with hunger, like a predator who found his prey.

Brandt took off his jacket, and hid it inside the cleaning supply cart beside the vault-like metal door, leading them into the computer array room, while Carolyn unhooked the straps around her ankles of her stilettos. Her eyes danced around the room.

"Who puts a computer underneath a kitchen? That's got to be the worst floor plan idea ever," she commented lightly.

" _People who shouldn't own computer relay rooms,"_ Benji said in her ear-comm, making her giggle.

She placed her golden stilettos and golden clutch next to Brandt's jacket, while he opened the door.

They both leaned forward into the entrance way just as the lights flicked on, lighting up the cylinder shaft.

"We're in position," Brandt said, glancing down.

" _Sending in the rover,"_ Benji said.

Carolyn came up next to him and looked down into the room. She saw the spinning fan down below them, and inhaled deeply.

" _He's moving to you."_ Ethan said.

She could hear Ethan on her ear-comm, and started to wish she was back at the party, and drinking another glass of champagne, enjoying the dance of Indian culture she'd always liked to see. She thought they were beautiful dancers dressed in gold and white sheer dresses when she first saw them in a dance sequence.

" _Give him your back, don't want to make it too easy for him,"_ Ethan said.

" _Are you going to be talking the whole time?_ " Jane muttered under her breath just as Bridge Nath joined her at the bar.

" _In twenty minutes, I want a glass of Coolble Louie in every guest hand,"_ Nath instructed his bartender. " _And I want a bottle for them to take home by the end of the night."_ He turned to Jane. " _Impressed yet?"_

"No," Carolyn scowled, unable to help it. Brandt slightly smiled.

" _I'm more of a Bourbon girl,"_ Jane replied.

Nath jumped up on the bar top, and bowed toward her with his hands clasped together. " _I am Bridge Nath. Welcome to my humble home_."

Carolyn heard an array of different sounds through her ear-comm that sounded like ringing cell phones. This guy was mega-rich, definitely not on her cool list. She didn't want to know what he did for a living, or what he was capable of if he was holding nuclear launch codes.

"You know I once tried belly dancing," Carolyn commented lightly to Brandt, trying to break the fearful spell he was under.

"Another hobby of yours?" Brandt asked, still looking down at the death-defying drop ahead of them. What else was she going to tell him that she rock-climbed too? And why the hell was she so damn calm all of a sudden?

"Just for a little while," she said. "It was just something to try, you know?" she said and then peered down into the cylinder shaft, looking at the fan spinning in circles.

"How come you didn't stick with it?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It got complicated." _She couldn't afford to pay the rest of the classes, so she just quit,_ she thought.

" _And rover's in position,"_ Benji announced. " _Spinning down the termite."_

" _He's emailing,_ " Ethan said on Carolyn's ear-comm. " _Be Venus, be Venus, be Venus,"_ Ethan's voice drawled on.

" _Husband, boyfriend?"_ Nath asked.

" _More of a…co-worker,"_ Jane replied, leaning against the bar top.

" _Earth, Saturn? Take the leap_ ," Ethan said.

"If I can get Saturn to calm down, we'll be golden," Carolyn said, glancing at Brandt cautiously as he gripped tightly onto the threshold of the entrance, and fidgeted trying to calm his nerves down.

"Okay," Brandt breathed deeply, clapping his hands together. He placed his hands on his hips and stretched out into a lunge. He cleared his throat, and took off his tie. "Okay, jumping…" he muttered to himself, unbuttoning his cuffs, rolling them up so that his gravitational suit glittered silver within the dim light. "Jumping now…" he said, taking one final lunge forward, feet firmly on the ground, raising his arms in the air.

"No he's not," Carolyn sing-songed over the ear-comm to Ethan. Carolyn leaned against the metal pipes next to the computer array door with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why are you so calm all of a sudden?" Brandt asked, looking at her amused face.

He was about to take another lunge forward until she grabbed his arms and pulled him closer to her, stopping him from freaking out.

He looked down into her eyes, and saw that shining confidence in her that seemed to have blossomed over night. He looked down at her hands giving his arms a gentle squeeze of reassurance, suddenly feeling a slight warmth that seemed to spread throughout him, and calm him down. It was a strange comfort he found himself desperately needing. "I believe in you. You can do this..." she felt her throat tighten as her feelings came up again. "We can do this."

They stared at each other until Carolyn gave him the final nod of confirmation that she believed in Brandt's expertise and capabilities as an agent. They stepped apart and walked back to the entrance of the computer array room, and both glanced down in the twenty-five foot drop inside the cylinder shaft.

"Jump now?" Brandt asked.

" _Yes, commit, jump_ ," Ethan said.

"Jump?" Brandt asked, sharing a look with Carolyn.

"Yes, jump," Ethan said just as Carolyn nodded, ignoring her fear starting to threaten her.

" _And I catch you two_ ," Benji said.

Brandt looked at Carolyn who gave him an encouraging nod that she was ready.

" _Now_!" Ethan said.

Brandt looked up at Carolyn as he sat down slowly on the ledge. She knelt down beside him, as he placed his right foot onto the threshold, his other hanging off the edge. "How are we going to do this?" Brandt asked in a low whisper, looking down into the cylinder shaft.

She drew in a deep breath. "Just swing over, I'll latch onto you, and we'll go from there," she said.

Brandt winced at her.

She was definitely cringing at that also, but she wasn't about to let him see how truly freaked out she was.

One of them had to be brave here.

"So, uh," Brandt began. "You sure about this suit, Benji?"

" _Pretty sure_ ," Benji said.

Brandt chuckled nervously and gripped onto the wall behind him. "Now, you're _pretty_ sure?" he said, glancing at Carolyn who seemed totally fine with this. He took a deep breath.

" _Jump_ ," Ethan said.

She pressed a light hand on his shoulder, reassuring his self-confidence as best as she could.

"I'm right here, not going anywhere, Brandt. We can _do_ this…" she said.

" _Jump,_ " Ethan said.

He looked into her confident shining eyes again. He swung his legs over the edge, "Oh God," he breathed in heaping huffs of anxiety.

Carolyn lowered herself cautiously against Brandt, and wrapped her arms around him.

"Okay?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'm not letting go," she said in his ear.

" _Jump_ ," Ethan repeated. " _Jump_!"

Brandt leaned forward a couple of times before finally taking the plunge into the cylinder shaft. She felt her stomach nearly jump out of her skin as they fell twenty-five feet down below into the cylinder shaft. Both screamed for dear life, hoping and praying that Benji would catch them with the rover underneath the fan.

" _Jupiter, he's gone,_ " Jane's voice echoed over the ear-comm.

" _Did you guys jump_?" Ethan asked, holding onto his ear-comm, cell phone against his other ear.

Brandt and Carolyn looked at each other, and then looked at the array room they were in, hovering over the fan. She swallowed hard, feeling light headed, but okay for now, as she tried to catch her breath.

"Should we not have jumped?" Brandt asked, balancing himself and Carolyn in the air with the gravitational pull against the rover's magnets. "Because we jumped!"

Carolyn gripped on tightly around Brandt's neck, trying not to freak out. She wasn't exactly freaking out about falling, well that would suck, but at the same time she was freaking out about how close she was against Brandt.

She winced as she tried to relax against his body while he worked on holding his arms and legs in the air, keeping them afloat. She hadn't even considered how intimate this was and it freaked her the hell out. She just assumed that she would be switching the discs and that was that.

She heard Ethan sigh on her ear-comm.

" _Stand-by,"_ Ethan said.

" _I'm playing a hunch,"_ Ethan said, lowering Jane's glass. " _Don't hit me."_

" _My God, you are a passionate creature. I would like to show you my collection of art,"_ Nath's voice drawled over in Carolyn's ear, making her wrinkle her nose in disgust. Every word out of the billionaire's mouth made her skin crawl.

"Oh, spare me," Carolyn said dryly. " _Please_ let Jane kick his ass?" she asked, making Brandt chuckle. She felt the vibration of his laughing underneath her and she sucked in a deep nervous breath.

" _I was waiting for you to ask,"_ Jane said with a small smile on her face.

" _Then you have to find me_ ," Nath said excitedly.

" _You're on,"_ Jane said.

" _I'm heading upstairs_ ," Ethan said as he walked around the lobby to find the staircase. He looked out into the crowd, spotting Sidorov, putting his hand within his pocket as he looked about the party guests.

"Time to switch positions," Brandt said.

Carolyn sucked in a deep breath, and looked around them. "How?"

"Slowly?" he asked. "And without falling would be nice."

Carolyn grinned dryly, glancing down at the fan below them that could potentially kill her if she fell off him. "Great."

"You're the expert gymnast," Brandt said. He took a deep breath. "You can do this."

"Uh, Brandt?" she squeaked meekly.

"What?" Brandt asked, turning his chin up a bit so he could hear her.

"I've never actually…" she glanced around her surroundings and gulped. "Really been in this kind of um... position before," she cleared her throat, trying to fight off her bubbling embarrassment riding through her. "It's a little different in the gym than it is here…with you."

Brandt chuckled nervously. "Great…okay…uh….um…"

" _Oh for heaven's sake, just switch positions already! Carolyn, you've seen James Bond right?"_

Carolyn turned bright pink. "Yeah…"

" _So act like a Bond girl!"_ Benji said.

Carolyn felt her cheeks grow hotter than pink at the memory of herself watching James Bond spy movies on the weekend with those steamy moments that James Bond would _always_ get the girl, and they were always in difficult positions, trying to escape the bad guys.

She shook her head frantically. "I can't," she stressed and then sighed at the remembrance of her past. "I'll just pretend Brandt's the balance beam," she muttered, and suddenly swung over in a quick movement.

"Whoa," Brandt said, reaching out for her and curled his arms around her back before she could dip into the fan's blades. "A little warning would've been nice," he said.

" _Now_ turn over," Carolyn instructed, breathing heavily, and still feeling the cool tingling effects of her near-death fall ride through her. She gulped. Together Brandt and Carolyn moved against each other, twirling around, so that Carolyn was now sitting atop of Brandt's stomach. His back dangerously close toward the fan's blades.

Taking a deep breath, her fingers tip-toed lightly against his stomach toward the base of his torso, so she could lean her upper body back, holding it upwards in the air. She slowly pulled herself up so that she could sit atop of him, locking her legs underneath him. Brandt watched her work. Once he felt satisfied that she was balancing herself steadily atop of him with her arms stretched out, as she focused on her balance, he lowered his hands out beside them, so he could steady them both in the air above the fan's blades.

"Sorry," she cringed. "I just didn't want to be nervous about it. Hesitation lowers your confidence."

Benji moved the rover, turning it around to face the narrow hallway, leading to the computer array room. As he twirled the rover around to face the narrow hallway that lead into the computer array room, so did Carolyn and Brandt.

They entered inside the narrow pathway, Carolyn lowering her body against Brandt's, so she didn't hit the threshold. She looked down into the computer array room, noticing the vents on either side of them start to get a little bit narrower.

" _Alright now be careful,"_ Benji said. " _It's probably getting a bit hot."_

Carolyn and Brandt shared a worried look for a fleeting moment before she looked ahead of them, while Benji moved them along the silver beams underneath Brandt.

Brandt looked at Carolyn as she looked down below her. They really didn't need Benji's commentary because she was pretty sure that they both could already feel the warmth coming from the computer vents as she felt Brandt's body underneath her grow warm and hot that was very hard to ignore.

The rover continued to move along the rocky floor beneath them.

" _We need to get to the satellite before Hendricks does,"_ Benji said.

" _Look left, look right. I find your capricious compassion intriguing,"_ Nath drawled seductively in Carolyn's ear-comm. " _Let me be the one to tell you that he is not your type, completely not your type. He's completely cold. I'm hot. Like all Indian men they are very hot."_

" _Eight-o'-clock_ ," Ethan said suddenly. " _He's at your eight-o'-clock_."

" _As you move toward me, you are getting hotter,"_ Nath's voice was sharp in everyone's ear-comms as Benji suddenly lost control of the rover.

Carolyn gripped tightly and lowered her body against Brandt's chest, as they dropped dangerously low to the silver beams. Brandt hit his back and Carolyn gasped sharply. "Too much, too much!" Carolyn panicked as Brandt cried out at the sharp biting pain in the back of his head. "Up, up!" she instructed Benji frantically.

Benji quickly moved the rover again, and they felt a burst of air pushing them up far too suddenly for Carolyn's likings because she got hit in the head. "Owe," she hissed, and lowered her head against Brandt's collarbone, feeling the sudden bruise form on her forehead.

"No, no, no, too much, too much," Brandt shouted, glancing frantically at Carolyn as she gripped tightly onto Brandt's body for dear life.

She glared at Brandt, and sighed, feeling her shoulders slump with relief that Benji finally got control of the rover.

Brandt looked up at her and shrugged innocently.

" _I see you,"_ Jane said. " _I hear you have one of the finest private collections in the world."_

" _Well, at the very least, it's private,"_ Nath said.

Carolyn took a deep breath and looked at the silver plate. "Okay, now what?" she asked.

"Remove the plate," Brandt instructed.

Then she twisted her back to the side to face the computer array slot, and leaned in close to it so she could remove the plate that covered the discs inside the relay room.

"Reach into my pocket and grab the disc," Brandt said. Carolyn looked down at him as he looked up at her, staring at one another, listening to their hearts beating against their chests.

She reached into his pocket, and took out the black disc, placing it lightly on top of Brandt's stomach, so she could take out the red disc from its slot inside the relay room.

" _Earth, Saturn, how are we doing in the relay room?_ " Ethan asked.

"We're in position," Brant replied, as Carolyn placed the black disc inside its space port.

" _I see the satellite_ ," Benji announced.

Sweat trickled down from the side of Carolyn's temple, and dropped onto the silver beams, emancipating a steam in the air. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, now messy, and she could feel the strands of her hair become wet against her skin from the heat of the exhaust vents.

She looked down at Brandt's face, who was also sweating as he worked on holding them together afloat. She sighed, and looked down into Brandt's eyes that read they needed the codes.

"We need those codes, guys," Brandt said.

She would've listened to what Nath was saying to Jane right now about his collection of art, but the heat inside the relay room made it very hard to concentrate as she was also trying to keep herself balanced, and if they were both sweating, that was going to make Brandt as a balance beam a tiny bit difficult to stay on.

" _You know the tantrics believe that a seducer of Chakra hides within the subconscious of desires,"_ Nath said.

Carolyn definitely heard the curdling bone twisting sound of his hand in her ear-comm that time, which only made her smile even more.

But her smile suddenly faded when all of a sudden the fan started turning and twisting back to life down below her. She turned to look behind her and widened her eyes at the spinning fan. "Um…Brandt, what the hell is _that_?" she asked nervously.

"What the hell _is_ that?" Brandt said, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening below them. She moved to the other side so that he could see what was happening. His eyes widened at the spinning fan going haywire.

" _What the hell is that?_ " Benji asked curiously.

Carolyn blinked at the technician's uncertainty. What?

" _What the hell is what?"_ Ethan asked.

"It's going haywire!" Brandt yelled, wrapping his arms around Carolyn so she didn't fall off of him.

She reached over for the disc that threatened to slip off Brandt's stomach and grabbed it her hand.

" _It's downloaded the virus from the satellite,"_ Benji informed.

" _Hendricks is securing the server,"_ Ethan said. " _Before we can kill the satellite."_

" _Hendricks is reprogramming the satellite! He's going to have the launch codes in five minutes!"_ Benji said frantically.

" _Something wrong?"_ Nath asked.

" _No,"_ Jane said.

" _Jane, we gotta move, we need that code_ ," Ethan said.

" _Finally we're alone_ ," Jane said.

" _Tippy, tippy tip top,"_ Nath said happily.

" _Venus, now is the time, you kick his ass and get us that code_ ," Ethan instructed.

" _We are alone aren't we?"_ Jane asked.

" _No one will interrupt us,"_ Nath said.

Jane suddenly twisted his arm and threw him on the bed, grabbing his neck into a headlock, squeezing him just enough so she could still get the codes from him.

As Jane had him in a headlock, Carolyn bravely steadied herself against Brandt's stomach, locking her legs tightly around him while they were inside the relay room. He let go, watching her carefully as she held onto the disc in her hand, ready for the codes.

" _Move and I break your neck,"_ Jane said. " _The over-ride sequence for the relay station. Say it now and never speak again_."

Nath tried to speak but she squeezed his neck tighter, preventing him from crying out. " _The codes_ ," she hissed.

" _46-82-93,"_ Nath said as Carolyn plugged in the codes.

They were in, but the lights suddenly dimmed inside the relay room, and the fan slowed down a bit.

Carolyn looked worriedly at Brandt, and Brandt he turned to his earpiece.

"Benji, what happened?" Brandt asked.

" _The system's crashed, we're too late_ ," Benji said.

" _No, no, no, he's revealed himself_ ," Ethan said. " _Benji can you pinpoint Hendricks's location?_ "

" _Uh, Hendricks is signaling out at a state-run T.V. station 6.7 miles from here_ ," Benji said.

" _Send me the coordinates_ ," Ethan said. " _Good work guys, now get the hell out of there._ "

"Back us up!" Brandt instructed to Benji.

" _Jane, tie it off with Nath, and meet me at the rally point,"_ Ethan said.

They spun around each other, so that Brandt's back was now facing the ceiling, and Carolyn rested on top of his back, so the rover could control Brandt's gravitational suit. She held onto him tight, as she felt the pressure of the fan going haywire. Brandt kept his hands ahead of them, steadying them both against the fan's current.

"Faster Benji just take us straight through," Brandt said. "Stop! Take us through! _"_

"Please take us through," Carolyn cried against his neck.

Brandt glanced down, trying to assess his options, thinking quickly at the unraveling situation at hand.

" _It's not responding! It doesn't have the patience…_ " But Benji's voice cut out when Brandt grabbed onto the black vents beside them.

"Hold on," Brandt said. Carolyn held on to him as he pushed them to move with the fan's pressure that pushed them inside the cylinder shaft.

They flipped backwards in the air and Carolyn lost her hold on Brandt. She fell within the cylinder shaft, a scream leaving her throat, finding its way out of her lips. He grabbed her and pulled her against him. His back hit against the side of the cylinder shaft, as she wrapped her arms and legs around him, not letting go.

They were still in the middle of the cylinder shaft with the fan pushing the wind against them.

Carolyn looked up at the top of the cylinder shaft.

"Can't reach the top!" Brandt and Carolyn cried in sync.

"More fan, more fan! More fan!" Brandt yelled.

" _There's nothing I can do, it's maxed out_!" Benji said frantically.

Brandt could feel Carolyn's shudder against him, and he knew she was afraid, but still trying to hold it together to the best of her abilities. The rover was going to break. She looked down and gulped, wincing as the fan's rays hurt her eyes due to the fan's high pressure.

"Brandt," she whispered.

"Yeah, I know," Brand said. "Hang on!"

He curled into a fetal position, bringing his hands and feet together, covering Carolyn and himself so that they flew back in and then back up with the fan's pressure. She buried her face within his chest, and wrapped her legs around him. She felt her stomach drop as they dropped downwards and stopped suddenly at the rover to give them more of an oomph to push back up in the air.

Within seconds, they were pushed back in to the air with the fan's maxim capacity of its air pressure.

"Let go," he instructed.

Carolyn looked at him fearfully, and saw that he was holding onto a ledge. "What?" she yelled.

"Just trust me for a second," Brandt yelled at her.

Carolyn looked into his deep blue eyes, and let go when all logic left her. She felt herself fall, but then a hand grabbed her arm, nearly slipping until she locked her fingers within his tightly. She looked up as Brandt had caught onto a small ledge hanging from the wall of the cylinder shaft, both feet against the wall, and he was holding onto her for dear life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said frantically, looking into her frightened eyes.

Suddenly something sharp cut her leg. Her face cringed at the pain as it had startled her. She gripped onto his hand tightly, which made Brandt hiss sharply at her. She looked down, shakily as she saw that pieces of metal from the rover were flying in the air. One of them had cut her leg, creating a small incision wound against the calf of her left leg.

"Owe," she yelled. "Son of a…" she hissed at the biting pain. She glared down and then up at Brandt. "Brandt!"

"I _know_!" he said, glancing down at the flying pieces of metal as the rover broke apart. Carolyn bit her lip as more pieces of metal scrapped against her skin. She tried to ignore it as best as she could and focused on their unraveling situation.

Without warning, he suddenly pushed themselves off the ledge. Carolyn inhaled a startled gasp, and wrapped her legs around him so that they were both tucked in together firmly, and held tightly onto his neck, while they flew back into the cylinder shaft, against the pressure of the fan's rays in hopes that it tossed them closer back to the entrance of the cylinder shaft. He reached for the ledge and pulled them both inside the storage room. Brandt landed on top of Carolyn, and firmly onto the ground.

"Carolyn?"

He didn't get a response, which made him gulp down his fear. "No, no, no, please...not again," Brandt whispered frantically, brushing the wavy mess of hair out of her closed eyes. Her face was turned to the ground, cheek visible to his blue eyes. He could see the tears rolling down her face, probably ignited from the shock of their near death experience. His eyes traveled down her shivering body underneath him, as he slowly lifted himself off of her. More cuts and bruises donned on her face, mingled within sweat, dirt, and grime. Her make-up ruined. Her legs had fresh cuts along them from the rover's metal pieces that had flared up in the cylinder shaft. She turned to face him, opening her eyes, and stared into his concerned blue ones. Brandt could see the hazel colors change back to normal. The fear inside them slowly disappeared, but he could see that she was awake, blinking to focus. He sighed, lowering his head down a bit, relief washing over him. She was still breathing, and so was he. He rolled onto his back, glancing up at the ceiling letting out a final sigh of relief.

" _Brandt? Carolyn?_ " Benji asked finally over the ear-comm.

"Next time I get to seduce the rich guy," Brandt muttered in response to the technician.

Carolyn looked over at Brandt, feeling the sweat trickle down her face mixed in with tears, as her breathing slowed down a bit. "That's not funny," she said, brushing her fear of tears and sweat away with the palm of her hand.

He chuckled lightly, as he pushed himself up off the ground. "It's a little funny," he said sheepishly, helping her up off the ground. "Come on, we gotta go."

"Right, evil madman afoot," Carolyn muttered under her breath as she dusted herself off, frowning at her ruined dress. She grabbed her purse and shoes, and together they ran off to find Hendricks's location, or in Carolyn's case, limped as quickly as she could behind Brandt.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Hope it wasn't too bad! :) Hope you liked!**


	16. Lights Out

**A/n: I just wanted to let all my readers know, that I did edit the last chapter. I edited the heck out of the last chapter that was a monster no doubt, but I did it, finally. So you guys can check it out! I do recommend it for Brandt and Carolyn's sakes. Anyway, thank you all to my readers, and reviewers! Here's another chapter because you guys are awesome!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 16: Lights Out**

"Come on, come on!" Benji urged frantically, waving his hands toward the car, as he saw Carolyn and Brandt flying toward him down the alley way, as the technician waited by the SUV.

Benji helped Carolyn in the backseat of the car, while Brandt got to the driver's side, and locked himself inside. Benji slammed the door shut once Carolyn was in. Brandt pressed the gas pedal hard, and they were off, merging into traffic.

Carolyn slid into the middle seat of the back, and reached for her duffle bag. She pulled out a hair tie and pulled her hair up in a tight, but messy bun behind her, while Benji tracked Hendricks and the nuclear warhead on his laptop in the front seat of the car.

Brandt drove them to the T.V. station, speeding down the streets of Mumbai, weaving in and out of people and traffic of cars that were slowing them down to get to their destination.

Carolyn looked inside her bag for black ballet flats, a towel, and a pair of black slacks, and placed them on the seat next to her. She pressed the towel against the warm cut on her leg, wiping off the blood as best as she could, putting a tiny bit of pressure on it.

"I'm here Ethan!" Benji said.

" _How long until Hendricks can launch the missile?_ " Ethan asked.

Carolyn listened intently, and anxiously, while she dabbed the towel along her leg.

"Less than thirty seconds," Benji said.

Carolyn eyes flicked worriedly between Benji and Brandt, noticing the tight expression on Brandt's face, and winced. Thirty seconds was not enough time.

Brandt pressed his foot on the gas pedal, accelerating the SUV's torch power that had caused her to grip tightly against the edge her seat to keep herself from launching backwards. Her towel fell to the floor.

" _Need another route_ ," Ethan said.

" _Turn left up ahead_ ," Jane said. " _Hit the alley on the right_."

"Ethan, Hendricks has started the launch sequence!" Benji cried. Carolyn's eyes widened, and fear gripped her heart.

" _How much time until missiles are flying?_ " Ethan asked.

"Three minutes!" Benji replied.

" _We're three-and-a half minutes out!_ " Jane said.

"We're going to stop this...right?" Carolyn said.

Brandt winced at the soft tone of fear in her voice. He wanted so much to stop this. But the odds were against them.

" _We can make it_ ," Ethan said. " _We can make it."_

Hearing Ethan's confident voice in Brandt's ear-comm made him press his foot harder against the gas pedal, speeding in and out of traffic as best as he could.

Meanwhile in the body of water, toward the Central Pacific and the Magellan Rise, the Russian submarine ship raged on, waiting for orders.

A fax printed out, and one of the men grabbed it. "Captain…"

He handed it to his leader, in which the Captain took in his hands, and read.

"Connect to Central Command for launch verification," The Captain ordered. "Right away."

The man nodded, and contacted Hendricks.

"Proceed with Operation "Iron Fist"," Hendricks ordered on the phone inside the T.V. station. "Command to Launch is confirmed. Cease all further communication. Over and out."

The Russian solider gripped the phone hesitantly in his hand, suddenly feeling a cold wave wash over him.

He was given an order that he must comply to…

But that wasn't going to stop Ethan Hunt. Time was of the essence, sure, but Ethan _was_ going to stop this. This mission _was_ going to be accomplished, against all odds, he would fight it. He sped as fast as he could with Jane's directions.

"Next left," Jane said.

He swerved to the left, causing Jane to grip onto her seat, and jerk against the side of the window. She glared at him, but Ethan ignored it, pressing his gas further down the alley road until he suddenly stopped on the brakes due to a crowd of citizens walking across the street. Ethan slapped the wheel angrily.

~*MI*~

"Proceed," the Captain ordered his men, as the man turned the key to ignite the missile launch. He pushed the red button, igniting the missile. It stopped for a brief minute after it launched out of the ocean, and fired in the blue skies on the other side of the world.

~*MI*~

"Ethan?" Benji called out to him. "We're too late…the missile's in the air."

Carolyn did not like the straining and worried voice coming from the sweet and funny Benji she'd gotten to know, but then again who liked to hear that a missile was in the air and they were too late to stop it?

She could suddenly feel a wave of defeat swirl around the car.

Brandt looked at Benji, eyeing him up and down, noticing Benji's pained and defeated look on his face. He could feel the loss of hope, even from Carolyn who'd been so hopeful and so strong during this mission. He glanced up at her through his rear view mirror, and held her gaze.

She looked into his eyes, and frowned.

She knew it. They called it. No one needed to sugar coat it, for her world was about to disappear.

~*MI*~

But Ethan wasn't going to have it. He suddenly roared the car to life, pressing on the gas pedal, and honked his horn for civilians to get out of the way. Jane looked at him crazily.

" _There has to be a way to abort the warhead_ ," Ethan said.

" _If there is one it'll be on the launch device_ ," Jane replied.

" _We're gonna get that case_ ," Ethan said firmly and confidently.

~*MI*~

Carolyn listened to Ethan's words on her ear-comm, and gripped tightly as Brandt pressed the gas pedal harder. The SUV launched forward into a speeding motion down the road. She sucked in a breath and started to change outfits.

The mission wasn't over until Ethan said it was over. That message was loud and clear.

~*MI*~

Hendricks and Wistrom walked out of the T.V. station and into the night. The silver case was in Hendrick's hands as he took in a deep breath. "May there be peace on Earth," he said.

Just as he thought he'd won, Ethan's silver BMW pulled up to the curve. He glared at it, and turned to Wistrom, "Disable the relay," he said.

Wistrom nodded, and ran back inside the T.V. station while Hendricks took off in a run.

Ethan and Jane ran out in front of the T.V. station. "Get Wistrom! Inside, inside!" Ethan said.

Jane took off running, pushing the glass doors out of the way, and entered inside the array of television sets, and into the computer server room.

Meanwhile Wistrom pulled out every color of wires out of the computer server he could possibly imagine until he spotted Jane, running toward him. He pulled the last piece out, and grabbed his gun. He fired two shots at her through the glass window, breaking to pieces.

Jane fired back, hitting the side of the computer serving, nearly missing Wistrom's head as he ducked, and blocked her shots.

He fired back at her as she rolled onto the ground, ducking from his bullets, and landed on her feet. She aimed her gun at him, continuing to fire at Wistrom, as he backed away from her rage of firing bullets.

Wistrom hid behind one of the black servers, until she finished firing.

Jane got up off the floor and jogged closer to see if she could catch him.

She leaned against one of the computer servers, and backed into it in case Wistrom would pop out any moment to shoot her. When nothing happened, she ran forward, and popped out with her gun aimed and ready, but found that he was gone.

Tentatively, she stepped forward, but looked down at the ground, feeling a slight pain within her stomach. She ignored it, glancing at Wistrom's gun on the floor, but the pain shot through her stomach again, and she winced. She put her hand over the wound, catching red blood between her fingers. She groaned in pain at the sharp feeling inside her.

Suddenly, the sound of breaking glass echoed in her ears, and she spun around, lowering herself to the ground. Jane ducked behind the server, and her gun aimed at Brandt, and Benji. Carolyn appeared behind the technician not too long after when the coast was clear. Jane eyed their FOC curiously, and noticed Carolyn had changed outfits.

Brandt and Benji made there way around the servers toward the relay, while Carolyn followed close behind them.

"Wistrom destroyed the relay," Jane said. "Ethan went after Hendricks and the case, but…"

"It doesn't matter if he has the case, we can't transmit the abort codes," Benji said, holding up one of the computer drives that Wistrom had taken out of the relay server.

Brandt leaned against the side of the relay server, listening to Benji. He looked at the technician. "Can you fix it?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, but…" Benji began but was cut off due to the power turning off.

Carolyn looked up as darkness surrounded them.

"Well, it's going to be pointless if we don't have any power," Benji said in annoyance.

"Wistrom," Jane said, aiming her weapon just Brandt was quick to take out his flashlight and weapon, pointing it at the other direction toward the back of the T.V. station.

Jane was about to head forward until she slapped a hand onto the server box, leaning forward in pain.

"Jane," Brandt said concernedly. Brandt looked over and walked toward Jane who was holding onto the side of a computer server. "I'm okay," Jane tried to reassure him.

Brandt looked down at the glinting blood seeping out of the small bullet wound in her stomach. "Oh, no, you are _not_ okay," Brandt said, glancing back at Benji and Carolyn. "She's hit."

Carolyn's eyes went wide. _Oh no, Jane._ She frowned. If they couldn't get to the power room in time, none of this was going to work. And Jane was hit. Carolyn had to do something. If Ethan didn't give up, neither did she. She quietly disappeared when Benji and Brandt focused on Jane, and went in search for power room.

"You stay here and cover Benji. Benji, you get this thing re-wired...I'll get the power back on," Brandt said, turning to Jane. "We can do this…Carolyn you sta..." Brandt stalled, glancing behind him, frowning when he didn't see Carolyn present, and then looked over at Benji.

"Where's Carolyn?" Brandt asked.

Jane glanced toward the analyst worriedly, and then suddenly looked for Carolyn who was nowhere in sight.

"She must've gone to turn the power on…" Benji said finally, turning toward Brandt.

Brandt turned to Jane, who motioned a quick nod toward the power room. "Go," she said. "I got this."

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Eh, I don't know how I feel about this one because it's all happening so fast! I hope you guys liked anyway!**


	17. Mission Accomplished

**A/N: Here's another chapter! Ugh, writing fight scenes is so hard, to do, so I tried my best with Wistrom and Brandt's showdown! If I got anything wrong, I'm sorry! I am glad you guys like Carolyn though. :) I like her too! Thank you to my readers, and reviewers! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 17: Mission Accomplished**

Ethan ran through the busy streets in what appeared to be a car event, showcasing a different variety of cars. He looked up and saw the helicopter shine a light down on the tower of cars, lit up in front of him. He spotted Hendricks, and started running after him, nearly getting hit by a car.

He ran across the street once he saw Hendricks heading for the parking car garage. He opened the door and ran up the ladder. Hendricks kept going up and up with the brief case tightly in his hand, not wanting anyone to get it.

Ethan was close behind him, as the cars on the lifts moved around.

Hendricks ran up the stairs until Ethan leaped forward and crashed into him, reaching for the brief case out of his hand. They landed on one of the lifts. Ethan almost had the silver brief case but Hendricks whacked him hard, which had caused the brief case to fly into a convertible car, landing on the seats.

Ethan crawled over to get the silver case just as Hendricks tried to reach for his leg, but Ethan kicked him in the face. Hendricks rolled over. Ethan climbed over the lift, and looked down at the brief case inside the BMW.

Ethan was about to jump down until Hendricks pushed him down on his back with the sole of his shoe. Ethan whirled around and kicked Hendricks in the face, causing him to fly backwards, giving him just enough time to jump down into the BMW, but smacking his forehead against the metal. Ethan grabbed onto the side door of the car to keep himself from falling off.

He pulled himself up and into the car in search for the brief case. He found it, and took it in his hands.

~*MI*~

Benji worked on trying to get them back online, while Jane kept an eye out for Wistrom, holding a white cloth that Benji had given her for her wound. Benji hissed at a biting pain on his finger. He'd accidentally got his finger caught in the wire. "Owe," he winced, holding his flashlight within his mouth, trying to work as fast as he can. Jane could only hope that Brandt could find Carolyn, and turn the power back on. What was taking so long?

~*MI*~

In the dark halls, Carolyn worked on trying to find the power room. "Great idea Carolyn," Carolyn muttered to herself, trying to calm her biting nerves against her skin, as she tried to find her way down the maze of hallways that would hopefully lead her to the power room. "Go to Moscow, listen to a _stranger's_ advice to see the country's greatest buildings in history, the Kremlin, and get blown up," she whispered harshly as she ducked down another dark hallway. "End up in a hospital, then get in trouble with the Russian police, trust a spy, jump into a computer array room to your death, whilst hanging onto one very _fine_ young gentleman of whom I probably can't have because he's also a super spy…and decide to try to be brave for once in your life to go turn the lights back on and get lost…" Carolyn said, glancing behind her shoulder. "With a killer on the loose, yeah, this is _real_ smart, Carolyn…"

She took in a deep breath and let it out, as another thought graced her mind. But the fate of the world rested along their shoulders, and she had to help. She didn't want the world to die. This was her chance to finally do something right in her life. She could help save the world.

"Alright, if I were a power room, where would I be?" she asked herself, turning down another hallway and walking passed a door that read _danger_. She stopped, and pivoted on her heel back toward the danger door. "Gotchya," she whispered, and pushed the door open.

Stepping inside the room, she glanced at the different levers along the wall where the fuse box was, and crept closer to it. She glanced ahead of her staring at the array of fuse boxes from big to small, and gulped. "Uh-oh, which one…" She stepped closer, trying to read the labels as fast as she could, but was fretting because she didn't know which lever to pull, and she really wanted to do this on her own….she looked at the red lever ahead of her, and was about to try it until suddenly she felt herself get pushed against the metal fuse box, hitting her head against the hard metal.

"Oof!" she said, but then suddenly noticed the lever was close by. She reached down to pull the lever, but then Wistrom grabbed her arm and hand before she could pull it, and twisted it backwards, causing Carolyn to cry out in biting alarm.

Wistrom twirled her away from the fuse box, and twisted her against his body. He glanced at her face cringing in agony. "Oh, it's you," Wistrom sneered, keeping her away from the fuse box, which wasn't that hard to do considering she was tiny and he overpowered her. "I thought I sent you to the Kremlin to die," Wistrom said in her ear, wrapping an arm around her neck, closing off her throat before she could utter a response to him. She tried to squirm out of his grip, but he was too strong. "Oh well, you'll die with me."

"Carolyn?" Brandt's voice echoed through the hallway.

Wistrom looked up at the sound of Brandt's voice echoing through the room, and smiled, walking backwards into the shadows, hidden behind a wall. Suddenly she felt the cool metal press against the side of her stomach, pushing into her rib cage. She whimpered at the pain, and winced at the harshness of his jab. She tried to call for Brandt, but Wistrom closed her throat, which only made her squeak in anguish.

"Not a word," he warned in a whisper.

Fear glazed over her eyes. She sucked in her lips worriedly, and tried to get out of his grasp. Wistrom jabbed the barrel of the gun at her side, to stop her from squirming so much within his arms. She felt herself go limp for a brief moment.

Brandt walked through the hallway, and glanced at the power room door wide open. With a frown creasing his face, his eyebrows furrowed, he slowly approached the room. He cautiously stepped inside the power room, glancing around for Carolyn, but then spotted the lever. He was about to pull it until…

"Brandt!" Carolyn warned within the midst of Wistrom's two shots ringing out. Brandt turned, and ducked, taking cover as the bullets hit metal, narrowly missing Brandt's temple.

Brandt turned toward his attacker and aimed his gun at Wistrom. He was ready to pull the trigger until he saw Carolyn wrapped in Wistrom's headlock with a pained and remorseful look on her face.

"Move and she dies," Wistrom said, pointing his gun toward her side again. Carolyn winced.

"Pull the lever damn it; the mission is more important than me!" Carolyn rasped, as her fingers worked on trying to pull Wistrom's arm off her throat.

Brandt glanced from the lever to Carolyn. He looked into her eyes, and she nodded for him to go for it.

Brandt reached for the lever to pull it, but a shot rang through the dark, causing him to hesitate, hand lingering just beyond the metal lever in front of him.

Wistrom let Carolyn's body slip out of his arm to the floor. Then he aimed for Brandt's head, but Brandt shot at Wistrom, who ducked.

When Wistrom was distracted, Brandt turned to to pull the lever again. However, Wistrom suddenly came up beside him smacked the side of Brandt's chest, which caused Brandt to look up at him in painful alarm.

Wistrom then smacked him on the side of his head with his hand just as Brandt tried to shoot him. Unfortunately, Wistrom grabbed Brandt's hand and knocked the gun out of Brandt's hand after he'd hit it against the metal fuse box a couple times.

And with all his might, Brandt used his upper body strength to shove Wistrom, and spin them around onto the ground, which allowed Brandt to personally throw a punch across Wistrom's face.

~*MI*~

Meanwhile, with Hendricks' injured arm, he walked up the steps crying in agony. He wasn't going to loose. He turned onto the lift and then spotted the silver case, rising on one of the high lifts, moving up toward the ceiling of the car tower. He went to grab it before the lift disappeared, and it was now in his hands. Home free, or so he thought because he was met with Ethan's sole shoes, hitting him hard in the face. He double backwards, and cried out.

Gripping tightly onto the handle of the silver case, he quickly moved it away from Ethan's dive. He landed next to Hendricks, and tried to get the case away from him, but Hendricks swiped it away from him and stopped to catch his breath, glaring at Ethan through his dark eyes.

Ethan glared right back. "I'm taking that brief case!"

It appeared that Hendricks was going to run again, but then an idea occurred to him, and he smiled at Ethan, hugging the brief case to his chest. He stepped backwards, and turned to fall to his death.

"No! No!" Ethan yelled, rushing forward to grab him but Hendricks was already falling to his death. His body bounced against the car on the car lift, smashing the roof to pieces, and fell down on the ground, brief case on the floor next to him.

Ethan watched in shock, breathing slowly, catching his breath a bit. How? How could he just do that?

But Ethan still had time. He could get to that case.

But how was he going to…he spotted the car next to him, and an idea so crazy crossed his mind. He had to do it. He could do it.

Ethan climbed up into a pearl white BMW, and got into the driver's seat. He strapped on his seat belt, and glanced around frantically for the on button. He pushed it and drove off the lift, face first, crashing into the ground.

~*MI*~

Brandt flew backward into the metal box behind him. Wistrom cornered Brandt into the cabinet behind him, and threw a punch toward Brandt's face, but Brandt ducked, and while Wistrom was distracted, Brandt threw a mean punch in his face, causing Wistrom to double back.

Brandt moved to hit Wistrom again, but Wistrom pushed Brandt against his back into the hard metal drawers, causing Brandt to let out a sharp yell at the hard impact against his back.

Hearing Brandt's cry in her ears, Carolyn opened her eyes, and looked up and over at the fight between Brandt and Wistrom, and then turned her head toward the lever.

~*MI*~

Benji's fingers were covered in blood, as he worked on to finish securing the yellow wires together, while he held the flashlight in between his mouth. "Ah," he winced. He glanced down the hallway for a brief moment, and then back at the wires.

"They've been gone too long. Damn it," he put his flashlight onto the table, and grabbed the two computer drives in his hands. He turned to Jane. "Listen, when the power comes on these two drives go in this bay, okay?"

Jane watched the technician and nodded, while he went to go find Brandt, and Carolyn, and turn the power back on.

~*MI*~

Ethan army crawled onto the floor to the silver brief case over the sharp glass lying on the ground. Hendricks hadn't moved a muscle. He was so still, but Ethan crawled over to the brief case.

~*MI*~

Carolyn let out a small groan, and coughed. She turned her head to the side, and saw Brandt throw a punch across Wistrom's face, but Wistrom ducked. Brandt used his knee to kick Wistrom in the face, but as Wistrom looked down, and then up, Brandt whacked him in the face hard with the butt of his hand, causing Wistrom to go flying into the metal fuse box.

Carolyn tried so hard not to feel defeated, and tried to regain her strength and energy so that she could pull herself up and turn the power back on. She tried push herself up off the floor with her hands, trying her best to ignore the burning pain she felt within the side of her stomach. _Come on, Carolyn, you can do this..._ she thought to herself. She looked over at the fight between Brandt and Wistrom worriedly. They had to get to that lever.

Brandt escaped Wistrom so he could pull the lever. But Wistrom was too fast and grabbed him, yanking him back with all his might.

Brandt struggled to hold onto lever and pull it. Wistrom unfortunately pulled Brandt far away from his grasp on the lever just as he was about to turn the power on.

Carolyn took this moment to push herself up off the ground with all her might.

~*MI*~

Ethan made it to the brief case, pushed it slightly so he could open it. He glanced up at the screen and what the numbers read. Hendricks turned to face Ethan with wide eyes as Ethan moved to push the red button to stop the missile.

~*MI*~

Wistrom threw another punch at Brandt's face. Brandt was about to use his elbow to whack Wistrom off his feet until Wistrom threw himself on top of Brandt's back, and pulled him back with all his might away from the power lever.

Brandt grabbed onto the side of the cabinet frantically, trying to get out of Wistrom's hold, and reached desperately for the lever.

He looked down at Carolyn, and saw that she'd finally managed to get up off the floor.

"Pull the damn lever!" he yelled at her as he tried to break out of Wistrom's hold.

Carolyn pushed her feet into a run toward the fuse box, and grabbed the lever within her hands.

Wistrom kicked Brandt in the face, causing Brandt to double backwards.

She was about to pull it up until strong arms wrapped around her, and pulled her away from it. "No," she cried, arms stretching out for the metal lever. Wistrom tossed her to the ground like a rag doll. She rolled on the ground in a heavy heap.

Brandt charged after Wistrom, and smacked him across the face. Brandt stepped over to reach for the lever again, but then Wistrom pulled Brandt's shoulders back in a biting crunch.

~*MI*~

Ethan flipped the box open revealing the red button. "Mission," he raised his fist in the air with all the energy he had left and punched down the red button to abort the warhead in the air. "Accomplished!"

He looked up on the black screen and read the timer was still going. 19:32. Shit. No. No. 18:34…

~*MI*~

Brandt stretched out his arm toward the lever, fighting against Wistrom's hold on him, as he tried so hard to reach for it. He grasped onto it a couple of times, but was pulled away against Wistrom's hold.

Carolyn turned painfully at the sound of gunshots in her ears, and widened her eyes at Benji, standing in between the threshold. She then looked over at Brandt and Wistrom as they fell to the floor, and glanced up at the red lever. She pushed with all her might to get up off the floor.

~*MI*~

Ethan hit the button again frantically multiple times.

~*MI*~

Brandt crawled out from underneath Wistrom's arm, and together he and Carolyn scrambled toward the lever. They pushed the lever up, turning the power back on. As the lights came on, illuminating around them, Carolyn winced at the sharp pain at her side, and glanced down at the side of her stomach. She saw the blood glistening red within the lights of the room, and looked at Brandt.

"I can go home now...right?" she asked in a whisper before she fell forward into his arms.

He grabbed her and steadied her against him while she slipped into unconsciousness, falling completely limp in his arms. "But first, we'll take you to a hospital," he sighed within the mess of her hair.

~*MI*~

The lights illuminated the T.V. station sending Jane the cue to push the two servers into the bay.

~*MI*~

With one final hit with Ethan's fist, the missile heading over to a bustling city of civilians, hit the side of the building and flew into the water, causing a big splash. Ethan looked at the screen that blinked in red and black highlighted letters, OTMEHA.

He lowered his head, letting relief wash over him. Hendricks closed his eyes in defeat, loosing the will to live.

The doors burst open revealing the Russian police with guns in their hands, and jogged down the stairs, followed by their leader, Sidorov.

"Don't touch him," Sidorov yelled in his Russian native tongue. He walked over to Ethan. His men scooted back so he could see his prize. "This one is mine," he said. He caught a glimpse of the blinking red and black lights from the silver brief case, and pulled the case closer to him. He knelt down, reading at the word, OTMEHA. He glanced over at Ethan curiously.

"So, we are not enemies," Sidorov said.

Ethan shook his head slowly.

"The phone call from the arms dealer in Dubai, you wanted me to find you?" Sidorov said, trying to figure all this out.

Ethan nodded his head slowly in response, too tired and hurt to talk.

"How will we explain this?" Sidorov asked.

Ethan remained silent.

"And I don't see your partner in sight…" he glanced around the room. He looked back down at Ethan. "She really wasn't apart of it, huh?"

Ethan shook his head no very slightly.

Sidorov eyed Ethan up and down his curled body. "Hospital?"

Ethan nodded yes, and closed his eyes, ready to just relax if only for a brief moment because he deserved it for saving the world with the help of his team, and his FOC.

~*MI*~

 **A/n: So, we're almost to the end! *Tear* I can't believe I made it this far. It's crazy! I'm sorry if the reading was a bit choppy between scenes. It was another tough chapter to write since there was a lot going on between our heroes! Anyway, hope you guys liked!**


	18. Seattle

**A/n: So, we're in Seattle you guys, and my longest chapter yet. I'm so, so sad that it's ending, but I hope you enjoy it. My sincere thanks goes to RedRobins007, OwlScratch, Guest, Anna Becker, Dalonega Noguisi (hoping I got that right! & thank you so much for the idea, hope you like!) IKhandoZatman, and SarcasticEnigma for reading, leaving me wonderful reviews that have really put a smile on my face and kept this story afloat. Thank you guys so much. Much love to you all! I love my readers, my favoriters, my followers, and my reviewers, you guys are just so awesome. I really mean it, thank you to the bottom of my heart because I had so much fun writing this story! If I forgot to mention anyone, I'm sorry, you're cool too :) **

**Enjoy! Um…might want to keep a box of tissues next to you…just sayin…I really did think long and hard about this scene, and how I wanted to end it. I think I did okay, I hope! *Sniffle***

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible. MI belongs to its respective owners. I just own my OC. Writing for fun, and not for profit.**

 **~*S*~**

 **Chapter 18: Seattle**

~Pier 47~

"And in other news, eight weeks later the debate continues. Eye witnesses remain adamant that the object was some sort of aircraft, but officials with the department of defense insist it was simply a meteor large enough to be visible during daylight."

Carolyn leaned against the bar top, listening to the nightly news that blared on the television screen attached to the roof. This time it was in English, and she was more than happy to be back at home. While she loved culture and wanted to see the sights, and get away from her dull reality she'd cornered herself into, international espionage wasn't something she had in mind.

"Here you go chickadee," Gina said, handing Carolyn a tray full of seafood in red baskets. The smells of seafood flared up in Carolyn's nostrils, causing her to cough a bit, and coughed slightly at the strong fishy smell. She sighed. Anything was better than that dingy cocktail lounge to keep a roof over her head, food in her stomach, and paying off those hospital bills for her gunshot wound...

Gina put ketchup and tarter sauce with lemon lined in between the baskets for her customers.

Carolyn smiled widely at her new manager. "Thank you, only took Rodriguez long enough to cook," she said.

Gina giggled, brushing a piece of copper colored hair behind her ear. "He's a little slow tonight. Had a fight with his girl. Wasn't pretty. You know, drama, drama with that boy. He apologizes, and tell your table we've taken the food off the bill, alright?"

Carolyn sighed, "Okay," that just meant she was probably going to get a horrible tip, even if she gave the family the best possible customer service she could. They ewere nice people, but the Dad just seemed irritable with his food being cold.

She'd only been here for a month, and it'd been busy most days since she worked here, but not tonight. Tonight, it was quiet, and the night was dying down fast, much like her life had died, and she'd fallen back into the good old American routine of just living, and paying her dues. No longer did she feel any adrenaline rush, or fear. She was home, and she was safe even if she secretly wanted to be out there traveling, and having her own adventures...not like her last adventure, but something picturesque instead of feeling fear all the time.

"What's the matter?" Gina asked with a small sigh.

Carolyn turned back to her boss and shrugged. "Nothing, I think I'm just tired," Carolyn said. It was partially true. She was tired, and she still felt achy from time to time, still healing from her wound she'd gotten in Mumbai. She couldn't very well tell Gina that, now could she? She couldn't tell anybody. She'd been sworn to secrecy, and she agreed that she wouldn't tell a soul.

She straightened out her green apron over her uniform and tightened the strings that had gotten loose around her waist before she smoothed out the brown locks of her hair back into her ponytail. She was eyeing the news like a hawk, thinking how her media could just lie to their own people? She bit her bottom lip. Well, maybe people would freak out if they knew a missile was about to hit their city. Carolyn knew that she definitely would freak out. It just sucked sometimes.

Gina's brown eyes glanced worriedly at her employee and cleared her throat. She turned the T.V. to a different station like football.

"Well, finish up with your last table, and you can be cut for the night, okay?" Gina asked.

Carolyn smiled gratefully at her. "Okay," she said.

"Don't forget to do your side-work," Gina said, eyeing Carolyn playfully.

Carolyn giggled and shook her head. "I won't."

Carolyn raised the tray against her shoulder and headed over to the family of four that had waited patiently for their food. "Here you go guys, I am so sorry about your food being cold. I promise it's hot this time," she said, placing the four red baskets of seafood and French fries in front of the mother, father, and their two kids, who were coloring in their menus and eating teddy grahams. "My manager took care of it. It's on the house, alright?" she asked.

The father looked at her with grateful eyes, as he bit into his warm tilapia, steam filling in his scrunched up face that turned to happiness. Food made everyone happy. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

Carolyn nodded, "Enjoy," she said, and finished placing the ketchup on the table. "Do you need anything else?"

The bright-eyed mother, who looked like she'd worked at a school, glanced around the table and looked up at Carolyn. "Could you get the kiddos some more chocolate milk?"

Carolyn smiled and nodded. "Of course."

"Oh, and some more ice-tea for me, do you need a refill, hone?" the mother asked, peering her eyes over their trays of food on the table, and various condiments.

The father shook his head. "I'm good." He said, chowing down on his tilapia like nobody's business.

"You got it," Carolyn said with a bob nod of her head, and played with the empty tray in her hands, walking away from her last table.

She was about to go to the computer to type it in until an arm reached out for her, pulling her slightly backwards, and toward the face of his table.

"Ethan," she said under her breath, and looked at him with a wide smile. "I haven't forgotten you. Just had a slight mess up with that table, um, do you need a refill, or are you good?"

Ethan tilted his head up at her with amused brown eyes. "I'm good, I just wanted you to meet my man, Luther Stickell."

"Did you know Ethan was a corny son-of-a-bitch?" Luther asked her, making her eyes wide and blush.

"Well," she said, smiling at her super-spy. "I happen to like corny."

"So, you're the FOC, I keep hearing about, huh?" Luther asked, eyes glancing up and down her small frame before he looked over at Gina, who was getting drinks for someone else at the bar. "Think you can hook me up with her?"

Carolyn looked over at Gina and then gave him a playful smile across her face. Ethan smiled at the candid moment between the two. He liked that she seemed like she was back to normal. Her face healed quite well when she was in the hospital, and the cut on her lip may be there forever, but she was healing.

"I don't know if you're her type," she teased gingerly.

Luther let out a hearty chuckle that vibrated low in Carolyn's ears. "She's brave, Ethan, I'll give her that," he said, he saluted her with his beer and took a sip.

"Would you like a refill, Mr. Stickell?" she asked, glancing at his half-empty beer. He shook his head.

"Nah, girl, I gotta get going in a few," Luther replied. "Tell her to look me up in San Fran though, yeah?"

Carolyn laughed, and nodded. "I'll be sure to mention it," she said. "Anyway, duty calls. It was nice to meet you, Luther Stickell."

Luther nodded his head toward her, and took another sip of his beer.

She winked at Ethan who smiled and watched her disappear back to her work in the restaurant. Luther turned to Ethan once Carolyn was out of earshot, and leaned over the table, looking at the spy within his dark gleaming eyes.

"So, the freaked-out-civilian _survived_?" Luther asked. "And you trusted her?"

Ethan watched Carolyn curiously, as she made her way behind the bar to finish her night off. She was totally obvious to the world around her, punching in her table's drink orders, and swiping her card along the computer.

"They had her DNA," Ethan said, flicking his eyes back at Luther. "It was kind of a loose, loose situation. We had to get her out," he shrugged casually, and folded his hands over his stomach, sending his friend a smile.

Luther eyed his best friend up and down. In other words, Ethan felt sorry for the situation she'd found herself in, and he tried to help her out. He was always the plucky hero that Luther had gotten to love over the years, not that Luther would ever admit it to him. He let out a dry chuckle, and shook his head, scratching the top of his beanie covering his head to keep Seattle's cool weather at bay. "Damn Ethan…you sure know how to pick 'em."

Ethan shrugged. "What can I say?"

At that moment, Jane, Benji, and Brandt walked off the pier, and onto the wooden boarded floor that held up the entire restaurant. The smell of seafood and the waters surrounding them flared up in their nostrils. They kept cool with their jackets and warm slacks on thanks to Ethan's warning about the weather. He wasn't kidding when he said it got cold this season. They made it to Ethan and Luther's table, side by side, with their hands in their pockets.

"Hey," Benji greeted.

"This must be them," Luther said, glancing up at Ethan's team.

"Luther Stickell, the firm…Carter, Dunn, and Brandt," Ethan pointed to all three of them.

Luther glared at them. "I blew an entire weekend at the bottom of the San Francisco bay, no thanks to you clowns," he lifted up his beer in mock salute, and took a sip. Luther stood up his seat, pushing his way toward the end of the table. The three stepped back a bit, as he put his hand in his pocket.

"Hey, you know I got this," Ethan said, waving his hand.

"I know," Luther pulled out his middle finger at Ethan. "I'll see you in Kandahar," Luther said, tapping his shoulder lightly as he left.

Jane, Benji, and Brandt glanced at the mysterious Luther, watching him walk down the pier and head home.

Ethan looked at his team. "Thanks for meeting me," Ethan said, taking a sip of his beer.

Jane, Benji, and Brandt took their seats, surrounding Ethan.

"So," Benji said, dropping into his seat. "I hear the insurance company is refusing to pay that claim on that car you crashed, Ethan. Something about intentional hundred meters of vertical drops not being covered."

"Go figure," Ethan said with a smile on his face.

They shared a laugh around the table, unable to help but smile at one another.

"How's the leg?" Jane asked, looking at Ethan.

Ethan nodded. "Still working. You?"

"Healing," Jane said with a smile on her face as her straight hair flew back within the cool wind.

Benji raised his hand, "I'm fine, by the way." Ethan and Jane turned to glance at their former technician. "I mean I'm not actually sleeping, per say, you know, cold sweats, middle of the night," he drew in a deep breath, and looked around at the people mingling, talking, taking in their daily lives as if nothing happened, as if Ethan and his team hadn't stopped the missile from vaporizing the world. "All these people are just happy, and smiling, and they are completely oblivious to the fact that they were almost _vaporized_."

Brandt leaned his chin against his closed fist, listening to Benji's words. They were faint in his ears, but he could still hear them, as his thoughts began to drift.

"And if it hadn't been for…"

Brandt pinched the side of his ear between his fingers, "Dumb luck?"

Benji glanced at the analyst curiously.

"Was it?" Ethan asked. "I mean look, we were unprepared, in the dark, disavowed, and harboring a freaked-out-civilian, and the only thing that functioned properly on that mission, was this team. I don't know how we ended up together, but I'm glad we did."

Brandt sighed, and looked off to the distance, leaning his chin along his closed fist.

Ethan pulled out three phones, and dropped them on the table in a row.

Brandt glanced warily at the cell phones in front of him, and stared at them if they were the plague.

"You're missions. Choose to accept them," he said with a nod.

Benji inhaled a stretch worthy sigh and grinned. "Hey, I'm in," he said, glancing at his teammates. "Seriously, I mean, it's not as if any mission is going to be rougher than the last one is it?" he chuckled heartedly. "I mean that's just…bomb…is it?"

Benji looked at Ethan, Jane, and Brandt, who broke out into a chuckle at the candidness of their former technician, turned field agent, now co-worker, and friend.

When their laughter died down, Benji got up from his seat, and picked up the phone. He offered Ethan his free hand for him to shake a thank you, "Thanks, Ethan."

Ethan smiled, shaking Benji's hand. "Thank _you_."

Benji turned to give a small goodbye smile to Brandt, and Jane, and then left with his new mission, heading down the pier to catch the next ferry.

Next, Jane stood, taking her phone and smiled at Ethan. "Agent Hunt," she said, pressing a friendly hand along his shoulder.

Ethan nodded, smiling. "Agent Carter."

Brandt was left. The last one.

Ethan still didn't know that he was responsible for his wife's death, and Brandt didn't feel comfortable working in the field again. He knew his weakness, and his strengths, and what he was capable of. He wasn't about to delve right into another mission. He just kept failing in the field, and he didn't want to let Ethan down anymore than he probably already have. He'd rather just sit back at the desk for the rest of his life, filing cases, maybe fall in love at some point. Did he even deserve love after what happened in Croatia?

His throat tightened at his troubled thoughts that were most likely going to form a migraine. No one else was going to get hurt on his watch. No one else.

He started to walk by Ethan, but Ethan stopped him, "Brandt," Ethan said, turning his head slightly toward the analyst.

Brandt felt his shoulders slump at the sound of Ethan's voice, the tension he'd tried to shuffle down had built up and then down again. He kicked the side of the chair with his foot bitterly, hands in his pockets. "I'm not picking up that phone, Ethan, because I don't think you want me in the field."

Ethan watched the ferry boat, decorated with lights around the roof, and listened to Brandt's soft voice.

"I know you're wife is dead," Brandt said, looking down at Ethan from where Ethan was sitting. "I was there in Croatia. I was there for one reason. One. And I failed. It was my job to protect her."

"How do you know, she's dead?" Ethan asked, staring at the ferry, drifting across the river toward the other side of town. It parked beside the pier, and Seattle's civilian's stepped off. His tired eyes were transfixed on one of them as Brandt tried to explain.

Brandt turned his head suddenly, and looked at Ethan. "There was a body…"

"Did you see it?" Ethan asked.

"You…you killed those Serbians…" Brandt said slowly, glancing at Ethan with furrowed brows.

"I had to get her back," Ethan said before Brandt could finish Brandt's flustered words out of his mouth.

"You were sent there to Rankow Prison…" Brandt opened his mouth again but Ethan cut him off.

"That was a sacrifice I was willing to make," Ethan said. "IMF suspected Hendricks had people in Rankow."

Brandt swallowed hard, listening to Ethan's explanation, and nodded, glancing up at the dark skies around him. "And six dead Serbians was an ideal cover."

Ethan turned his head, and glanced ahead of him to find her amongst the crowd of her friends, walking toward the bar.

"Ah, waste-not, want-not," Ethan whispered.

The analyst ran a hand over his mouth, trying to get over the shock and realization of what he'd just cornered himself into. He thought had everything figured out, and he'd blamed himself for the longest time. He didn't know how to tell Ethan.

" _I'm sure, Ethan would understand,"_ Carolyn's voice had echoed in his ears eight weeks ago when she woke up in that hospital.

They'd argued so much over it. Brandt wanted to listen to her kindness but he just couldn't shake the awful feeling he felt on his shoulders. He would've carried it with him throughout his life. But now, he sighed at the drifting memory, he didn't have to. She was right all along.

He sighed, and slumped into Benji's empty chair, sitting next to Ethan. He let out a quiet chuckle of relief, as all tension and thought disappeared.

Ethan gave him a small look.

"Carolyn tried to tell me I didn't have anything to worry about," Brandt sighed, and flexed out his arms, and folded his hands across his chest. "She just has this… inkling, vibe, about good people when she sees them."

Ethan nodded. "You should listen to her more often," he said.

Brandt chuckled dryly, and shook his head, "I'll never see her again." He sighed, turning toward to Ethan. "The Secretary never told me," he groaned sheepishly, and buried his face within the palm of his hand. "Oh God…" he sighed.

"I accepted the Rankow Prison mission on one condition," Ethan said, leaning against the table, facing Brandt. "That no one could know that she was still alive."

"But," Brandt said, turning toward Ethan. "You're telling me?"

Ethan nodded. Brandt smiled, and then let out a small chuckle of reprieve, feeling like the weight of his shoulders had just been lifted.

"When did you find out I was in Croatia?" Brandt asked.

"I pulled your file after India," Ethan said.

Brandt nodded. "Right," he sighed. "So you had to fake your wife's death."

"As long as we're together, she could never be safe," Ethan explained. "It wasn't your job to protect her, Brandt."

Brandt raised his eyebrows at that.

"It's mine," Ethan said.

Brandt sighed finally, and lent out his hand to Ethan. "So…we're good?"

Ethan smiled, and shook Brandt's hand. "We're good."

With a final thought crossing his mind, Brandt smiled at Ethan, and took the black cell phone off the table, and into his hands. He tapped the cell phone against the table, clearly indicating that he was on board with IMF, ready to take on another mission.

Brandt was about to walk down the peir until he heard a familiar humming sound to his ears. He stepped back slightly to a woman who was busying herself without a care in the world, taking the salt and pepper shakers from the middle of the square tables, and placing them onto a round tray in her hands. Brown wavy strands of hair pulled back into a ponytail was now hanging loose around the curve of her shoulders, wisps everywhere, an indication that she'd worked hard throughout the night. He'd stopped to take in the woman's small frame within her Pier 47 uniform. A tired sigh left her lips, and she wiped the sweat off her brow, as she took another set of pepper and salt shakers, placing them on the tray.

She turned around with the tray resting against her stomach, nearly smacking right into his hard chest. She gasped at, startled, and totally flustered. "I'm so sorry, sir," she said frantically. She glanced down at his jacket to make sure that she didn't get any salt on it or anything like that because the salt and pepper shakers had fallen on the tray. She was about to step away for a second, but gentle hands curved around her elbows to steady her on her feet. She'd tensed and winced. "I'll be more careful. Um…" she stammered until she felt soft fingertips lift her chin up to stare at him. Her hazel eyes stared into a familiar set of ocean blue eyes, so, so familiar.

Gulping, she put her tray down at the nearest table, and nervously ran her fingers through her ponytail, unsure of what to say to him. She looked at the ferry as the people got on and off, walking happily toward the bar across the street, but she couldn't ignore his eyes on her. She looked back at him, and into his blue eyes, swallowing a thick lump down her throat.

He turned to face her, eyes dancing, and searching her, probably wondering what she was going to say, or what she was thinking, being the analyst that she knew he was, and shouldn't know that he ever existed because IMF worked incognito.

It was suddenly getting very warm between them, and her world was starting to spin.

She looked up at the dark skies around her, and frowned.

Not now.

She was just starting to feel normal again.

It had been eight weeks since she last saw him. Eight weeks was like almost two months.

She returned back to her daily routine of a civilian that was just supposed to be well…normal, and not have to worry about death-defying missions like Agent Brandt did, who now stood before her in her very own eyes, and who made it very hard for her to breathe because those familiar feelings she'd felt before had threatened to return.

He was handsome, and he was sexy. She couldn't deny it. She wouldn't deny it. But she couldn't exactly have him, now could she? Did she even deserve love? She wasn't so sure. Did love come by those who had messes in their lives or was it only available for people who were perfect, and had it all together?

She tried to avoid his eyes because she knew she'd get lost into the ocean and drown. His strong physique towered over her, making her feel small, but at the same time he also made her feel brave, like she could do anything in the world. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't even utter a word out because she was too shocked. Here he was standing in her presence. And neither one could really speak right now. Maybe it was better that they didn't, and this was one final good-bye that she was granted.

He tentatively stepped closer, and she felt her throat tighten around her as the butterflies swarmed within her stomach.

"So," he drawled, glancing into her eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest, and then smiled, breaking the heated mood. "Do you really think I'm one _fine_ gentleman?"

Carolyn's eyes widened and felt a wave of mortification swell within her heart. She felt her cheeks grow hot, as she watched his serious face turn to twinkling amusement. "You _heard_ that?" she asked in a small whisper.

He grinned slightly at her slight franticness expression. He could see her plump fair cheeks turn rosy pink within seconds that only made him grin even more. "We all did," he said, tapping his earlobe.

Carolyn groaned, and buried her face within the palm of her hands. "Ooh, I thought Benji turned our ear-comms off."

"Yeah, no," Brandt shook his head. "He didn't."

She pried her hands away from her face and held them in defense, "I'm sorry. I will totally understand if you don't like me back, because of your job, and because I'm not exactly your type I'm sure because I'm just a mess, and I still have that hearing I have to go to…and I'm just trying to figure everything out, so it's not like I could really date anyone right-"

Brandt leaned closer to her, and Carolyn stopped talking, feeling the heat again, this time not from the exhaust fan. "What are you doing?" she asked in a low whisper.

"Wondering when I can kiss you," he said softly, glancing into her eyes, waiting for her to say yes.

"Oh," she said, throat feeling dry. She furrowed her brows, and blinked. Seriously? He really wanted to kiss her. She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, wishing she could read his mind. "Um…really?" she asked with hope shining in her eyes.

The corners of Brandt's lips turned into a smile, taking that as her yes, and he gently held her arms within his, holding her in the most gentle way possible. Carolyn had never been held like this before, so gently, and warm. She'd never been in this kind of intimate relationship. This was new, and it scared her to be honest to be so close to someone that she'd fallen for and didn't think she could ever have. He pulled her against him so that he could press his mouth against hers and kissed her lips, so soft against his.

She melted within the kiss, pressing her lips against his. She could easily get lost as she totally was getting lost in the desperation of the kiss they both needed and shared at this moment. A warmth of heat flooded through her, making her a little dizzy. She suddenly felt her knees grow weak. As she attempted to step closer, her knees buckled out from underneath her, and suddenly slipped within his chest, grabbing onto his arms. His arm wrapped around her small back, catching her just before she could fall onto the wooden plank beneath them. She couldn't help, but let out a tiny squeak at the sudden slip, making her startled.

Brandt couldn't help but chuckle. She broke the kiss, feeling a little bit embarrassed. "It's not funny," she mumbled, glancing down at her non-skid shoes to ruin the moment of what should have been perfect. "Stupid shoes. They're supposed to be non-skid, not skid."

Brandt steadied her back onto her feet, and he pulled a light brown wisp of hair behind the curved shell of her ear. She shivered at his warm touch.

"It's a little funny," Brandt said humorously. He sighed, brushing his large hand over her forehead and pulled her in to plant a loving kiss on top of her head. She closed her eyes, smiling, relishing in his gentle touch. She may have been scared before, but the more she'd gotten to know and learn about him, the more her feelings silently grew like a heated disease that wouldn't leave her soul. "I thought IMF took care of that hearing?" he whispered, breaking her transit thoughts.

Carolyn frowned, "The Secretary said all charges would be dropped because Sidorov thought I was working with Ethan, that was it," she said. "I'm still a civilian, Brandt; I still have a life to get back in order. I mean just because I helped a little with the mission doesn't make every wrong thing I did go away."

Brandt tightened his fist by his side, and looked up around him, shaking her head. For a moment he'd lost himself within the kiss, and for a moment he was a happy and free man ready to go onto a mission, in which he just wanted to say his goodbyes to Carolyn, and go save the world. Now, she thinks that she was in the wrong with what this guy did. He shook his head.

"But you weren't wrong, Carolyn," he said. "You were just defending yourself."

"I know," she said calmly, but with a fiery glare in her hazel eyes. She sighed, letting all of her anger disappear. Sweet goodbyes were too short, and it wasn't enough to get angry over something so trivial. "I know. Look, I'll figure this out. I can fight my own battles, you know."

Brandt swallowed hard, licking the roof of his mouth in mid-thought. He looked down into her hazel eyes that were now shining with hope in them. He knew that she was strong, and could probably defend her own case. It was a stupid case that never should've been filed, but stupid assholes will be stupid assholes. Brandt grimaced.

"I mean what is he going to do, anyway? After Moscow, I'm broke," she said. "Hence why I'm here, working, thanks to Ethan," she smiled. "Look, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine," she said, and took a brave step closer to him. "I'm the one that's going to worry about you the whole time," she tugged on his zipper on his jacket, breaking him out of his thoughtful mind. He turned his head to look down at her, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, wanting this moment to last forever.

"I just want you to be careful," he said, leaning down to steal another kiss. She kissed him back, whilst standing on her tip-toes, pressing her hand lightly on his shoulder. She stepped down as he leaned closer to reach her height and deepen the kiss. "I will," she whispered in his ear, sending him cool shivers down his spine. He pressed his lips harder against hers, which elicited a quiet moan of heaven from her lips. She ran her fingers gently along the muscles of his arm until her fingers found his hand. She was about to try to thread her fingers within his warm hand, but found she couldn't. She frowned within the kiss, and pulled apart. Brandt sighed, rolling his eyes at her. He just wanted more time, but she found the cell phone.

Now distracted, she gently pried his fingers open to reveal the black cell phone within the palm of his hands and lightly traced her fingers along the screen. "Your new mission," she said, coming back to reality.

She looked over at the ferry, parked at the pier, and pulled away from him. She brushed a strand of her hair out of the way and cleared her throat. Right. Mission. Hearing. There was a whole new world ahead of them, and eventually this would have to come to an end.

Brandt looked at the cell phone in his hand, and sighed. Yeah, that.

"Well," she said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had found its way between them. "We'd have to depart one way or another," she looked into his deep and thoughtful eyes, as he listened to her, and studied her. His eyes burned with sorrow. Hers burned too, but they both knew they had to leave and move on. He was part of the IMF, he had a job to do, and she had her own world to put back together again.

She tentatively leaned up against him, pressing her lips to his cool ones from the cool weather entrapping them in a hug. The kiss sent shivers down their spines for the final time. After the kiss she whispered into his ear, " _The mission is always more important than me,_ " she said tentatively, and heartbreakingly because on the inside she was dying.

She wanted to be with him, she cared for him, and she…wanted him to stay strong, and do well in the field.

Brandt stole another kiss, kissing her hard, and backed her slightly into the table, but then she broke apart, suddenly feeling the threat of tears well up within her eyes. She glanced over at the bar and saw that Gina was watching with wide eyes. "I have to go," she said in a whisper, "My boss is um, giving me the you-need-to-get-off my clock look, and um…you need to go." She said finally.

He sighed. This he knew. He knew perfectly well. And she surprised him at how much control she had within her.

He frowned. Or she _seemed_ like she had it under her control.

But they couldn't do anything. Brandt had to stay strong and take Ethan's warning to heart. If they ended up together, she would be in danger too, like his wife, and Brandt wouldn't know what he did if he lost Carolyn.

He looked down at the cell phone Ethan gave him, his new mission, and looked back into her hazel eyes, brushing one last brown hair away from her face. He brought his lips down close to hers and just brushed them lightly against hers that sent a wave of shivers she'd never felt before, and gasped at the light touch. Her eyes had closed, relishing in the feel of him so close. But as she opened them, he was gone. Gone like a ghost.

Frowning slightly, Carolyn realized it was time for her to get back to reality. She sighed, and turned back to finish her side-work, throwing herself back into reality. She grabbed the tray of salt and pepper shakers and was about to head back over to Ethan's table until he blocked her. She looked up at him and saw that he had a hood over his face like he was getting ready to leave her too.

"Ethan," she greeted grimly. "How was the beer?"

Ethan smiled at her. "It was alright."

Carolyn tapped her fingers along the tray tentatively, as she wondered what he wanted from her. "Can I get you anything else, or are you heading out?" she asked.

"Heading out," Ethan said. "But I did leave something extra for you, on the table, if you're interested."

Carolyn quirked an eyebrow at him. "Please don't let it be a cell phone!" she cried, panicking a little. She saw a smirk across his face. "Ethan, you know I can't handle stressful situations!"

Ethan chuckled, and shook his head. "It's not a cell phone," he said. "Don't worry. Are all civilians so anxious all the time?" he asked, smiling at her.

Carolyn grinned. "Only when we get caught up in crazy and impossible situations," she said. Then smiled when a thought came to her. "I'm actually glad you stopped by."

"Really?" Ethan asked.

"It gives me the chance to say thank you for rescuing me out of that hospital. I know you didn't really intend to, but…"

"Hey," Ethan held up a hand from his pocket. "It's alright. We're good," he said, sending her a real sincere smile.

Carolyn sighed with relief, and grinned. "Thank you." She looked around her and saw that everyone was clearing out and heading home for the night. She turned to him and gave him a nod. "Agent Hunt."

"Carolyn Mason," he said, smiling back, giving her a nod also.

Carolyn gripped onto her tray tightly, and walked over to her last table where Ethan and Luther had left their drinks, cash-tips, and a folder. She frowned, and peeked over at the manila folder on the table, and brought it closer to her, fingers lingering against the letters, IMF.

She placed the tray down on the table, and sat down in Ethan's empty seat. She took the folder and opened it. She pulled out the letter and scanned it down with her eyes in search for the important words she needed to hear.

"IMF has cleared your hearing for your honorable services to the public. We're sorry you got caught up into the mess that should have been your holiday, well deserved, for your devoted services of paying your dues to your country. This is our apology." She read out loud to herself. She quickly stood up from the table, accidentally hitting her leg against it. She ignored it and tried to search for Ethan and Brandt, but neither of course were in sight.

"Son-of-a-bitch," she muttered to herself. She buried her head within her hands, and shook her head.

"Are you alright, Carolyn?" Gina asked.

Carolyn looked up at her boss, and smiled. "I think I'll be just fine, thank you."

Gina nodded. "We close in a half-hour, and the last ferry is about to take off. Don't get too distracted."

Carolyn grinned, "I'll try not to."

Gina smiled at Carolyn and went to go make her rounds with everyone else in the kitchen of Pier 47 that was getting ready to close. Carolyn grabbed the IMF folder and stuck it in her apron, along with the tips on her table.

She will be fine, now that she knew guys like Agent Carter, Agent Dunn, Agent Brandt, and Agent Hunt were saving the world from evil bad guys. Meteor? Ha. Carolyn knew the real truth, and that only made her smile even more.

 **~*S*~**

 **The END**

 **A/n: *tear* I really need some chocolate now, I don't know about you guys, lol. I will be posting an epilogue pretty soon under Quest for a Holiday ,so keep an eye out for it, and a little one-shot between Brandt and Carolyn because the epilogue ends on a cliff-hanger! Love you awesome readers! I will be posting regular updates on my profile so check it out! :) Epilogue will be posted here soon, not sure when, but soon, I promise! Also, I won't officially mark this as complete until I post the epilogue yet. :) Let me know what you guys thought in a review! I love them all!**


	19. Epilogue

**A/n: So, here it is! Epilogue! Enjoy my lovely readers! My one-shot will be posted soon! Um, bit of a warning, it does get a little dark in this epilogue, so brace yourselves!**

 **Thank you to each and every one of you. I am flattered that some of you may think I can write Canon, but I solely write OC's. Maybe one day I will write Canon, but for now I'll write for OC's.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Mission Impossible, or anything related to MI. I just own my OC. MI belongs to its respective owners. Merely writing for fun, not for profit.**

 **Epilogue**

 **Vienna, Austria**

If it hadn't been for her amazing manager, roommate, now friend, Gina Carr, Carolyn Mason would've never been able to afford her way to Vienna, Austria, a place she'd only dreamt about since she learned she could travel to places like London, Paris, and Vienna! She wanted to learn how to ski on the snowy mountain Alps, but she'd been given limited amount of time. The least she could do was travel to the top of the Alps along the line travel cars that rode high in the skies. She was only supposed to go for a weekend, and that was fine for Carolyn because her last trip was way too long, and way too stressful. At least in Vienna she could just leisurely enjoy the sites like she was supposed to in Moscow.

"You only turn thirty once, my friend, enjoy it."

"You're not coming with me?" Carolyn asked with a small frown, as she looked at the all-expense paid trip to Europe, anywhere she wanted, and she had her heart set in Vienna. The Sound of Music was a favorite movie of hers as a kid, growing up, she'd watch that over and over just to escape her ballet and gymnastic competitions. She would watch it, curled up with a hot steaming cup of cocoa and pretend like she was there with Julie Andrews. She'd never told anyone this of course; because it was a secret she'd like to keep to herself.

"I could only afford one ticket," Gina had said with a small cringe. "And I know you like the cultural experience, and you like to travel, and girl, will you just go? Enjoy yourself for once? I mean I know you can read books beyond books about history, but why read when you can go live it!"

"You do too,"

Gina giggled warmly. "I like the European men if _that's_ what you're referring to. I hope to marry rich one day and go live in a villa somewhere."

Carolyn wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"What?" Gina frowned.

"Sorry, I just…I've had really bad luck with rich men lately and yeah…not my favorite kind of people. No offense,"

"Oh, well don't let one guy spoil your search for romance darling," Gina said. "I knew that man was something special when I saw you two kissing down by the pier."

Carolyn chewed her bottom lip and blushed. "Yeah…he is something." Gina didn't know what Brandt did for a living, but Carolyn wasn't about to spill the beans, even if they were friends. There were some things Carolyn liked to keep private to herself. And this was a secret that she would carry with her throughout the rest of her life.

"So then take this trip, my birthday gift to you, all expenses paid for, anywhere you want to go, it's on me. You're a hard-worker Carolyn, and when you told me that your first vacation got ruined because you'd fallen off a flight of stairs and landed in a hospital….well that just sucks in my opinion. So, will you _please_ go?"

Carolyn sighed. "Alright," she said finally. Gina probably wouldn't have taken no for an answer because that was the kind of girl she was.

As Carolyn sat at a small café table within the busy streets of Vienna, she remembered her birthday night, as if it was yesterday. It was a very lonely birthday of sitting at home, eating ice cream and watching the Sound of Music for the umpteenth time.

Gina had a point. Her life was sad.

And Gina was honestly her rock since she's tried to recover from her international adventure with Ethan and his team. It was still fresh in her memory that she'd tried to forget, but she couldn't. She couldn't shake those events away no matter how much she wanted to, no matter how much she tried to, she'd always remember their adventure. Her fears and doubts would linger in her soul. Her feelings for Brandt would be up and down like a rollercoaster because she'd always remember his kiss. It wasn't something you could just forget. She still had nightmares about the Kremlin that still kept her awake and the fear of that guy still trying to get to her still threatened her from time to time, but not as much as Moscow.

She sighed, placing her chin on top of the palm of her hand.

Maybe she _did_ need a distraction, a healthy one, not one so stressed out. And what could happen in Vienna, really?

Well, today she was going to enjoy the Alps. She just had enough time for a bite of her blueberry scone and a sip of her cappuccino before she would have to make a mad dash back to the train.

She glanced at the time on her phone, and quickly stood up from her seat, accidentally hitting her knee against the table, which then caused her purse and phone to fall off onto the cobblestone streets. "Great," she muttered to herself, and looked at the spot of coffee that spilled onto her creamy-colored shirt that had a bit of a flare to it, and onto her half finished scone.

"Here, let me help," a gentleman said coming to the rescue. She was trying to scramble for her stuff, like room key, and her Alps tourism ticket that he'd grabbed in his hands.

Carolyn watched in amazement as he scooped everything up and put it all back into her purse. He held her phone and her purse back to her. "Thank you," she said, standing back up. She took out some European bills and handed it on the table. She knew that the tip was already added onto the bill, but it was just a habit she'd developed. Every little bit helps.

"You're welcome," he said. "I couldn't help but notice you're going to the Alps this afternoon?"

Carolyn looked up at him into his dark brown eyes. She smiled. "You're Russian," she said.

"Yup," he smiled guiltily. "I have a home here in Vienna. It's my father's, actually. I visit here often for work, the food, and the ladies," he drawled, winking at her. Carolyn couldn't help, but laugh at his charm. "How do you like Vienna?"

"It's peaceful," Carolyn said. "I really like the people here, and the food of course is amazing."

"I'm Dimitri," Dimitri said, offering his hand.

Carolyn looked at it and then looked at him again. "What do you do for a living Dimitri?" she asked.

"I'm a pilot. My father wanted me in the winery business like he was but…I'm more of a see the world kind of guy, you know?"

Carolyn nodded. "I do know," she said. "I'm Carolyn."

"And what do you do?" he asked.

"I'm a waitress," Carolyn said. "But I'm going to apply for college when I get back, so technically waitress-slash student."

Dimitri chuckled at her. "What do you want to study?"

"World History," Carolyn said, smiling.

"Ah," Dimitri bowed lightly, hand on his stomach, and a hand against his back. "I know much about the world that pens couldn't even put to paper."

"I bet," Carolyn said. "Unfortunately, I'm off to the Alps. And my ticket here says it closes at three in the afternoon, and it's about two. So I need to get going. It was nice meeting you Dimitri."

"I could give you a lift," Dimitri offered. "It'd be a lot easier than trying to make it through the weave of people on the train."

Carolyn chewed her bottom lip, and wrinkled her nose. She looked up passed the city of Vienna and over at the distance where clouds covered the mountains. It was a cloudy day today, but it was nice and warm out, perfect for short sleeves, and skinny jeans with boots that Carolyn had on. She strung her purse over and saw the crowd bustling in the street.

He seemed nice enough, Carolyn thought, glancing at him. He wore khaki slacks, and a white t-shirt. He had a red beret on top of his brown hair. Carolyn would have to admit that he was cute, and Gina did want her to have fun. She didn't have anyone else back at home, and she didn't really want to let Gina down. Plus it'd be kind of fun to get to know someone else like Dimitri, especially if he knew Vienna like he said he did, which was why she came here, to get to know Vienna.

"Tell you what," Carolyn said. "I'll go with you, on one condition."

"I'm listening," he said.

"I'll go with you if you tell me all about Vienna," she said. "And how you came to be in Vienna since you're, well, from Russia."

Dimitri chuckled. "Typical," he smiled, but then bowed, and offered her his hand. "Your wish is my command."

Carolyn smiled, and took it, hooking his arm with hers, they headed toward the Alps.

~*MI*~

The minute they got there, the ride to the tippy-top of the Alps was closed down due the sudden downpour that Carolyn and Dimitri found themselves in.

"Well, this sucks," Carolyn muttered, holding her pea-coat over her head, as Dimitri tried to cover her body from the rain. "It was nice a minute ago," she said with a frown.

"I'm sure it'll be open tomorrow," Dimitri said. "The weather here is ever changing, but the nice thing is, is that everything is sunshine and daylight in the morning. So we can go then. Is your hotel far?" he asked her over the pouring rain.

"It's uptown Vienna," Carolyn said.

"My villa is closer," Dimitri said. "We'll go there." They headed back to his car, and ducked inside. His tiny car was parked on the street curb on cobblestone.

"My stuff is in that hotel," she frowned, getting inside the passenger side.

"My sister has clothes you can borrow, and a shower that's probably ten times better than that hotel your in," Dimitri said, glancing at her.

She was shivering like a leaf, hugging herself for warmth.

Noticing her shivering, turned the heat on in the car, and started the engine. He could warm her up so easily.

"You said you wanted to see Vienna," he said. "Vienna is my home. I've lived here for most of my life. I was born in Russia, and we escaped. Now we reside here in the peaceful countryside. I intend to show people the world on what it's really like. It's not all dark and scary as most people see it as on T.V."

Carolyn bit her bottom lip. Not in her experience, she thought, but liked the way that he talked with his cute Russian accent. She smiled. "Is that why you became a pilot?" she asked.

"More or less," he said. "Come on, let's get you warm before you freeze to death. Did I mention I have a fireplace?"

Carolyn shook her head, smiling.

"And hot cocoa." Dimitri said, starting the engine, making Carolyn giggle.

"You really know how to spoil a girl, you just met off the streets," Carolyn said, darting her eyes at him, as if she was eyeing him cautiously.

Dimitri didn't miss her fleeting look of cautiousness in those hazel eyes of hers, but she was driving him wild. He'd never met anyone like her before and he was just sad for what he was about to do to her. He had to be careful. She was more perceptive than he thought.

"A woman with an interest in culture is kind of a turn on," Dimitri said, making her blush. He smiled, and they headed off to his home in the countryside.

Carolyn sighed, glancing out the window. Her thoughts drifted back to her world. It was so easy to get caught up in a vacation experience that she so desperately needed. This time would be different. This time she wouldn't get caught in a nuclear war. Dimitri would show her a good time and she could easily forget...

"What's the matter?" he asked, breaking her thoughts.

"I just got over a break-up," she said quietly.

"Oh," Dimitri cleared his throat, as they drove into traffic. "I'm sorry to hear that. You know what they say?"

"What?" she asked.

"Quickest way to get over somebody is to get right back on the bandwagon, right? That's what you Americans say?"

Carolyn let out a small laugh. "You're cute, Dimitri."

"I know. It's my curse," he said.

"Or maybe you're charm," she said, smiling at him. He smiled too and just pressed his gas pedal forward, hopping onto the highway so they could drive along the countryside. He was determined to show her just how charming he could be.

~*MI*~

By the time they reached the countryside, and inside Dimitri's large villa, which was like a mansion, or a castle in Carolyn's eyes, warm lights flooded around them. She looked up at the high ceilings, and glanced all around her. Wow… she thought. Expensive tastes, for sure.

"Your father sells wine?" Carolyn asked with a bit of uncertainty in her voice.

Dimitri glanced at her and didn't let go of her hand. He pulled her along the winding mahogany wood-covered staircase.

"We have a vineyard in Vienna, and sell to and from Moscow," Dimitri said. "My father always wanted to connect the peace between countries," he said. "And he wanted me in the family business but…I was more of a daredevil than anything else growing up."

Carolyn smiled. He sure knew how to take her mind off of the cold that seeped through her. He just had that touch of kindness.

They walked toward the hallway and into his bedroom. He flicked the lights on, and her eyes roamed around the large space. Large furniture adorned every corner of the room. His king-sized, canopy bed had brown and gold comforter to match his old-wood and antique dresser, inn-tables, and closet rested in the corner.

She ran her hand along her arm. Dimitri walked into his bathroom, also huge that seemed to glow white and pearl sheen along the countertops and floors. He grabbed a towel from the drawer and walked back over to her, wrapping it around her. He pulled her closer toward him so that he could warm her up.

"You have a fireplace in your room?" she asked, quite astonished, as she looked at the fireplace that rested along the wall n between the bathroom and the dresser.

He grinned at her, and let her hold the towel around her shoulders. He turned it on with the remote. Heat flooded throughout the room. She listened to the rain pitter patter against the rooftop.

It was all too much, but Dimitri was different. He wasn't like that rich guy who tried to hurt her, or…Nath. He was different. She couldn't place what it was because she was distracted by his smile.

"Any chance that I can um, change, and dry these wet clothes off of me?" she asked, cheeks burning hot with embarrassment.

Dimitri chuckled, and nodded, "My sister has a closet just down the hall, about your size. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you borrow something from her." Carolyn eyed him up and down, and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay," she said.

"To the left," he said, eyes lingering on her.

"Right," she smiled and looked at him curiously as he stared at her with hungry lustful eyes that made her heart thump against her chest. She was slightly freaked out, but also slightly enticed. It was a romantic place, and she had to enjoy her life right? Life was too short, after all. "Thanks. I mean it's just my luck it'd rain on us," she said. "Thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Anytime," Dimitri said.

She was about to walk out of the room until he pulled her arm into a warm embrace and kissed her deeply, holding onto her arms. She let out an involuntary groan, and sighed within the kiss that pushed deeper into her soul, making her dizzy with the taste of sweet countryside wine of his lips. He smelled so good with his cologne that flared in her nostrils, another turn on of hers, that made her weak.

Her heart started to race against her chest at how much he kissed her with every fiber and being in his soul like he was enriched by her or something. He gently pushed her against his dresser, and brought his hand down her throat, brushing his gentle palms against her skin. She shivered at the foreign touch, _emphasis on foreign_. His fingers wiped the water droplets away and pushed her wet hair back, and held onto the side of her chin, keeping his lips pressed against hers, begging to enter inside her. Yes, she thought timidly. She wanted this. She could finally get over Brandt because it was never going to happen. It was impossible. And Dimitri was so... she sighed. She wished she knew what it was, but she'd just met him. Maybe he was mysterious. Maybe that's why she was so enticed by him. He was new and fresh, and he promised her knowledge of the world. She wanted to so much to just move on, and enjoy her birthday weekend with Dmitri who'd offered her a chance to live her life, and not be afraid for once.

But...the moment she had with Brandt was so...striking to her. Every time she tried to go to sleep, she'd remember the bombing of the Kremlin and fear would strike her heart, but then Brandt would come to focus, and she would be safe again. She looked down and moved her head back away, and his lips kissed the side of her chin in response to his lusty kisses.

He sighed. "Him again?" he asked.

She looked up into his brown eyes, and brought her hand to her lips feeling the touch of him against hers that seemed to burn in a strange way. Like he actually could make her forget. She couldn't describe it but she was getting mixed feelings about him and her together.

"No," she shook her head. "I'm just…I mean I've never really…done anything like this before."

"Oh," Dmitri said, and then let out a small hearty chuckle. She smiled slightly. "Well, you have nothing to worry about. It is your birthday right?"

She nodded. She'd told him that on the way here too. She was supposed to be celebrating her thirtieth, that wasn't going as well as she'd planned. She sighed. Will things ever go right for her? Perhaps Dimitri was her salvation. People meet each other for a reason in life, right? She'd always believed that, but she just wasn't sure.

She was scared, but a good scared this time.

"And you wouldn't let a little rain, a closed day at the Alps, and a spill of coffee ruin your day would it? I can make it all disappear in just one night," he said, planting a light kiss on her lips.

She didn't kiss back this time. Her thoughts did drift back to Brandt, and she felt the ache in her heart again. Gina _did_ send her here so that she could try to get over the break-up even if it was her birthday, and technically not a break-up since they didn't really go out, but they did share one hell of a kiss, and it was still so fresh in her mind that it actually hurt.

"Can you make pain go away too?" she asked in a small whisper.

"Even pain," he nodded. "I'm in the business of making pain go away, Carolyn. I can make your nerves go away. It's my specialty. I can be _very_ gentle," he said, turning her head toward her with his fingers on her chin, brushing against her trembling lips, as she watched with a hazy desire. She could feel her fear disappear with his touch so gentle to her. He made her stare into his eyes, and he stared back into hers. "Or…I can be rough. Anyway you want it, darling, I'm yours. There is an animal inside me Carolyn, an animal that wants to light your sweet heart on fire, and tear your pain away…" he kissed her again harder on her lips, and this time she kissed him back, feeling hot again.

She opened her mouth and he darted his tongue in hers. She groaned at the forceful entry as he picked her up and turned her around facing her toward the bed. He walked them over and gently pushed her down, so that he was on top of her, entrapping her with his arms and legs.

His hand lingered down her skin to the end of her shirt, and pulled it over her head. He kissed down her neck, and worked on taking her jeans off, revealing all of her save for her white lingerie.

Suddenly Carolyn began to feel self-conscious as she felt cool air lick her skin as his eyes danced hungrily on her body. Fear gripped her heart tightly, and she stopped his hand from going any further.

She was shaking like a leaf, and Dimitri glared into her eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Um," she closed her lips, breaking the kiss. She scooted back towards the headboard and leaned against the pillows. He crawled upwards toward her, trapping her again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry. I want to, but I can't. I'm…not ready." She admitted shamefully.

Dimitri let out a shaky sigh. Damn. He was so close. Anger flared into his eyes and Carolyn looked at him with wide-eyes… but he lowered his head. "I'm sorry too," he said, that allowed Carolyn to relax.

"Thank you," she whispered, placing a kind hand on his fair and delicate cheek. "I'm sorry…I want to, it's just, I'm scared…intimacy with me…I…I just freak out."

Dimitri stabbed something sharp at her side, and Carolyn's eyes shook with fear and pain, and then a sudden numbness that consumed her body, as she felt the hazy drug loose in her system.

"So am I," he said in his Russian tongue. He watched her fall asleep. "Sleep tight," he said.

~*MI*~

 **Minsk, Bellarus**

Dimitri was pissed. He was close. So freaking close, and then it all went to hell. His dark eyes glared at the sleeping body of Carolyn Mason, the one girl he was supposed to track down, win her heart over, and then kill her. He hadn't intended to fall for her charming and delightful smile, but she had that way of making every dull reality shine. She was like an angel that could've saved him had she played her own cards right, but unfortunately he had a job to do.

And now he couldn't even have that moment of bliss, not even from her. Bitch. He thought angrily. She'll pay dearly. She'll pay hard.

He took her out of the truck that was loading a heavy package onto his A400, and held her over his shoulders. She was light as a feather, messy brown hair fell everywhere as she leaned over her shoulders like a rag doll.

"I thought you were going to screw her and then kill her," Dimitri's comrade asked, smoke circling his face as he watched Dimitri tie her against the nerve gas package inside his A400 plane, parked in the airstrip ready to take off. His comrade stomped on his cigarette with his boot.

"I was," Dimitri said bitterly, tying her wrist tightly against the cool metal pressed against her back. He dressed her in a black slip and black robe borrowed from his sister. "Gina failed to mention she was a virgin, _and_ had the guts to tell me to stop."

"You know most sane men just continue…."

Dimitri glared at him, and grabbed his collar. He shoved Misha back. "I'm not like most men, Misha, don't you forget that. That's inhumane to ruin such beauty like this one. That was last century, the stakes are higher now. The Americans must be taught a lesson. It'll be a message to those who are virgins that this is what happens when you don't freaking commit. Get the plane ready," Dimitri said as anger pulsed through his veins.

"Yes, sir," Misha said, and nodded. He disappeared to the cockpit.

She opened her eyes, but felt a tight and biting yet soft pain swirled around her wrist. _Oh no…_ she thought dreadfully. Not again.

She turned her head to stare at her surroundings, as she attempted to blink into focus. A groan left her lips after feeling drowsy from the effects of the drug that had flooded her system...

"Oh, good, you're up," Dimitri said with a large smile across his face, as he continued to secure her wrist against the restraints that held the nerve gasses together. "You're just in time to see the show."

Carolyn rolled her eyes around, taking in the gray outlook of her future. She turned her head to see that she was attached to gray warhead like metal boxes that had the danger seal slapped against them.

"What is this?" she asked groggily. She still felt the effects of the drug wear off her, because she was tired. She blinked a couple of times, more than a couple of times to focus. Everything hurt, physically and mentally.

She turned to look at him.

"This is my gift to the world, my message to your virgin Americans," he said, tightening her right wrist.

She tried to struggle out of her restraints, but it was no use, they were tight against her small wrists.

Dimitri stepped back for a brief moment as if he was admiring his handiwork. He ran his fingers along his chin, eyeing her unkempt form in front of him. "Hmmm, something is missing…"

"You son-of-a-bitch," she hissed, pulling against the black straps that rested along the package behind her.

"More like a bastard," Dimitri shrugged. "But to each their own, I suppose. My father wasn't the best of men I'd ever gotten the pleasure of knowing."

"Are all you psycho's so twisted?" Carolyn snapped, glaring at him.

Dimitri chuckled. "I'm hurt, my love, twisted? You're the one that's twisted. I offer you escape, and you turn it down for a man who left you in the shadows of your heart, loosing yourself in the dark. I could have pulled you out into the light, and made you whole again, but you didn't want the light."

Carolyn didn't say anything, so he continued on with his little monologue about his plan to the world, destroying every bit of it with nerve gas that was strapped behind her. Great. She gulped. She felt...horrible...and stupid for even trusting someone like him. But she didn't get it. He'd been so kind to her, and thoughtful...and treated her like royalty, like she mattered when he looked at her in her eyes. She frowned. Or was she just gullible? She thought she could read people and have them figured out, like sense a good person when she saw one. Maybe there were two sides to every coin after all.

She swallowed hard. "You lied to me," she whispered sadly. "Was any of it true?"

He glanced at her fallen facial expression and her question hanging in the air. He fought long and hard about what he wanted to say to her, for making him feel, and then turning it around, all because she was scared and holding back. And for what, time? Time to heal from a break-up? What had happened, he wondered curiously...a story he'll find out in another life.

Dimitri gripped tightly onto her chin, stepping closer. "We could've had the world," he whispered, forcing a kiss on her lips.

Her face pressed against the hard metal against her cheek, as she tried to not feel his lips scorch hers. She let out a whimper unable to help bite back the pain that she felt within her. She attempted to knee him in the groin and he ended up stumbling back from her.

"Sir?" Misha asked curiously, looking down at Dimitri who panted at the pain Carolyn had endured within him.

He glared at Carolyn who had a bit of a proud smile on her face before he glanced back at Mischa, his co-pilot.

"What?" Dimitri snapped.

"We're just about ready for take off," Misha said.

Carolyn glanced between the men who spoke Russian. Damn. She really needed a _How-To-Speak Russian_ book. They had apps for those, right? She bit her lip, glancing at the two men, and then down at her robes. She suddenly felt a bit self-conscious and shook her head. Oh, now you feel self-conscious, Carolyn...not to mention that you're strapped to a package fill of nerve gas behind you that's going God knows where...

"Everything secure?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes, sir, we're filling in the last gaps as we speak," Mischa nodded.

"Good. Finish it off, and let's go. We don't have much time." Dimitri said in a low voice. He turned to glare at Carolyn who now gulped. "You want to be an angel, and play God's given child to save the world? Go right ahead. You'll end up an angel…a fallen angel…and no one will hear you scream within that nerve gas. The world _will_ burn, and this is your first class ticket to enjoy the show," Dmitri said, and walked away from her, locking the side door tight, and the main door in front of her close shut, locking her into her world full of darkness.

"I'm never going on vacation again," she sighed.

 **~*S*~**

 **A/n: Cliff-hanger! I'm really not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it's what I came up with! I'm sorry if it was a bit fast and I hope it makes sense. I really did think long and hard of how Carolyn was going to end up where she is now. Eep, poor Carolyn! That really sucks, lol. Once Rogue Nation comes out on DVD, I'll be able to explain the epilogue a little bit more! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! The sequel title's name is Quest for A Nation. My one-shot is already posted under 'A Sleepy Holiday', go check it out! Hope you guys liked, and that it wasn't too horrible! Also, note that I'm not sure what the men's ethnicity is on the plane. I think they're Russian, and if it is not I sincerely apologize, I will edit that ASAP once I get the movie if they explain it in the film. Let me know in a review! :)**


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